


Ad·ven·ti·tious

by MyVantilene



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Nico finally gets to lead a quest, also I really can't stand the way Rick just dimisses Aphrodites and her children, so I gave her a bigger role
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-19
Updated: 2014-06-19
Packaged: 2018-02-04 21:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1793284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyVantilene/pseuds/MyVantilene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>advenˈtiSHəs<br/>adjective<br/>Happening or carried on according to chance rather than design or inherent nature.<br/>"Juno planned out Jason's life from beginning to end, and anything not dictated by her was completely and utterly adventitious."<br/>Synonyms: accidental, chance, fortuitous, serendipitous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ad·ven·ti·tious

**Author's Note:**

> The prologue is 16,000 words longer than I originally anticipated, so I apologize in advance if the beginning feels a little rushed.

The café wasn’t anything special, really. It was a slow day, despite the beautiful August sun out, and the cooling breeze offsetting the heat. The trees hadn’t yet lost their leaves, but some of the flowers were scattered across the rolling hills, like biodegradable confetti. A perfect day, really, and yet the café had barely any customers besides the redhead — or was she a brunette? — sitting at one of the outside tables. Her voice was light as a feather one moment, deep and husky as a starved wolf the next as she explained in no uncertain terms that she was waiting for someone and would not like to be disturbed. She winked and the manager could feel her face going red as she watched the other woman pick out the most out-of-the-way table on the terrace. She blinked, and suddenly the woman had black hair and olive skin. She went to the back to demand if anyone had put Irish cream in her coffee again.

There was a flash of light that challenged the sun for one agonizing, blinding moment and a woman with onyx locks curling around her shoulders sat down across from her.  
“Aphrodite.” She greeted sourly.

“Hera,” Aphrodite purred, chin resting on the canopy of her interlocked fingers, “How does it feel to be celebrated? And for something you actually _did_ do this time!”

“I don’t think I’m wrong in assuming you’re being sarcastic. Or that you didn’t call me here for congratulations.”

Aphrodite laughed, throwing her blonde hair over her shoulder.

“Have I become that transparent? Do forgive me, sometimes love is as subtle as a hammer.”

“Sometimes.” Hera agreed, her voice so strained you could use it to make spaghetti.

“Yes, yes,” the goddess took a curt sip of coffee, lips curling into an even bigger smile, “You want me to get straight to the point. Understandable, after all, you do not appreciate the magnitude of our little game.”

“I am not the one calling it a game.”

Aphrodite frowned, her hair shortening and skin darkening until she resembled Ethiopian royalty.

“But it is, my dear queen, and a very dangerous one at that. The way I put on for these demigods, the theatrics and the motivational misgivings,” she quirked an eyebrow and leaned in closer, “The way _you do the same._ But you are so wrapped up in your arrangements that you’ve forgotten, your majesty, you do not write the rules. _I_ do not write the rules. For so long we have picked our sides and watched Fate run its course but now you have meddled. And still you can not win.”

“I already have.”

Aphrodite shook her head, green eyes alit with dangerous mirth.

“Oh, my dear, misguided queen,” she tutted, “We both know this is far from over.”

“You’re forgetting that _my_ champions were the ones to put Gaea back to sleep. All yours did was carry around a statue. And I’m not even sure Nemesis’s was good for anything but transportation. Face it, the war is over, and everyone embellishes me for my _meddling._ To them, you are nothing more than a tactless, masochistic airhead, tha—”

“You’d be wise to hold your tongue,” Aphrodite snapped, “I can just as easily guarantee your husband’s infidelity as I can change your status as a virgin goddess.”

Hera’s face darkened.

“You… You would never —“

“Don’t worry your pretty little head,” she cooed, her voice changing from an alto to a soprano, “I doubt I’d need to pull something that dirty to prove my victory to you. The evidence will come soon enough.”

“Like I said,” Hera narrowed her eyes, “The war’s over.”

“Like _I_ said,” Aphrodite stood, brushing her tunic off, “It is so _not.”_

When the manager came back out again, there was no one at the table.

* * *

Nico di Angelo never said goodbye. He never said “it’s been semi-decent knowing you” or “see you never.” He’d spent the night at Camp Half-Blood’s infirmary and left right as the victory celebrations were getting started. The kid wasn’t even healed all the way; he had escaped with a broken arm, a sprained ankle, and premature scars peppered on his pale skin.

“You let him leave like that?” Jason had shouted, clenched fists ready to fly at the son of Apollo who had taken care of Nico.

“I didn’t discharge him,” he had replied, lifting his chin to distract from the shaking in his knees, “When I came to check on him, he was gone.”

“How long has he been gone?”

“How should I know?”

“You were supposed to be treating him. He nearly killed himself to save this camp, and you couldn’t keep a closer eye on him?”

“You think I wanted to be the one stuck with a son of Hades? Apollo stands for life, _Grace,_ sorry for being repelled by my antithesis.”

Jason just sputtered at that, trying to explain how very wrong it was to be a son of Apollo and not care about someone's life. Matthew’s eyes held no sympathy, and Jason stomped off before he could do something he’d regret.

* * *

“I could IM Reyna if you want, see if he might’ve gone to her.” Piper had offered.

Jason shook his head.

“He said he’d be gone forever. I doubt he’d show up on Reyna’s door step unless he had to.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, rubbing her thumb against the back of his hand, “It might help to ask, though. You said unless he had to and — just to make sure he’s not in dire condition, I think we should talk to Reyna and Hazel.”

Jason rested his head on her shoulder.

“You know, you’re not completely healed yourself,” she put her thumb underneath his eyelids, “When was the last time you slept?”

“I… I’m not sure. The harpies haven’t exactly been terrifying campers into sleeping lately. There’s not enough of them left.” He said sadly.

“You should sleep. I’ll check in with Reyna and Hazel, okay?”

“Sure, but wake me up after.”

“Of course.” She smiled.

Piper let him sleep in, and he wasn’t that surprised or outraged. He figured that was her angle all along.

“Hazel said he showed up for a little bit and left, but she didn’t think anything of it until I told her about his little ultimatum. She said that it made sense, how he kept saying goodbye like he wasn’t coming back. Reyna hasn’t seen him, but…”

“But?”

“Well, we started talking… about New Rome, and all that and I’m thinking that going to college there might not be such a bad idea,” she bit her lip, “What do you think?”  
Jason shrugged.

“That sounds fine. Anything particular you wanted to study?”

“Well, Reyna was telling me about how great their legal program is, so for the time being, I think that’d be something cool to try, but I’ve got a couple years before I have to make a decision. What about you?”

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher.”

Piper laughed.

“You? A teacher?”

“What’s so funny about that?”

“Nothing — nothing, it’s sweet. I just thought you’d go for like — well… it’s kind of hard to see you taking up a normal major. I figured you’d be president or something.”

“Yeah,” Jason rolled his eyes, “Another white dude for president.”

“Alright, then I can be president. The first female, Native American president.”

“I guess that makes me the first… first gentlemen? First sir? What’s a male version of the first lady?”

“No idea,” she laughed, “But I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”

She kissed him and that was the end of it.

He wished that he could stay in a moment like that forever, but Piper left to do a Camp Jupiter exchange with a son of Demeter two days later.

“I’m just going to scope out the place, for us,” she had said, “You’ve spent your entire life there, and I haven’t even been.”

With Piper gone, Leo spent more time working in his bunker, trying to get over his break up with Calypso. The gods had set her free after the war and she had chosen a tour of the modern world over the son of Hephaestus. He hadn’t taken it well, and with Piper going to the other end of the country, he was pretty much a wreck. Jason tried his best to help, but despite having the title of Best Friend, he wasn’t _Piper._ Whoever they had gotten to know at wilderness school wasn’t Jason Grace, and although they had grown close, Piper and Leo were closer to each other than he could even be, even with all the Boyfriend and Best Friend labels being thrown at him.

“You’ve been in that bunker for a week straight, Leo.” Jason had said when he caught him sneaking off during breakfast.

“What can I say? I’m a busy guy.”

“Well how about a break sometime? Me, Percy, and Annabeth were thinking of going swimming later. You in?”

Leo’s expression darkened.

“I’ll pass.”

“Come on, it’s just a quick dip. You don’t have to stay long.”

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Normally when Leo turned down his plans, he would make jokes about not wanting to get in the middle of another one of Percy and Jason’s competitions, or being a fourth wheel, but his tone was serious this time.

“What, like shutting yourself up in the bunker is a better one? I don’t see why you can’t just —”

“I said no!” he shouted, effectively shutting Jason up with a heated glare. And Leo’s heated glares were the equivalent of an open flame dangerously close to a haystack so Jason didn’t comment when he stalked off back towards the bunker.

 

Jason kept his distance for a while, just to give him time to — pun not intended — cool off. He spoke with Chiron about leading a quest to bring Nico back to safety, but the centaur had his hands tied as it was, overseeing exchanges between the two camps. Jason wasn’t that surprised. He had spent time relearning Nico’s life story on the Argo II — it was certainly nothing like the way Annabeth and Percy had told it — and he knew that Chiron had done little to search for him the first time he ran away. Maybe it’s why Nico kept doing it. He knew that no one would look. Or at least until recently, he thought that no one would look. But Jason hadn’t given up, calling in favors from the people he’s saved over the years, asking if they could keep a look out, sending the ones he trusted most to check around the entrance to the Underworld in Hollywood. So far? Zilch.

He did what he could from camp, and tried to make a few attempts at reconciling with Leo, which on the surface seemed to work, but he was never sure whether or not Leo’s smiles were genuine. Mostly he asked when Piper would be home and if Jason wanted some superfluous gadget he had finished. He seemed to have more and more these days.

He talked to Leo’s siblings about it, and they said they were sure that he had made an exchange to Camp Jupiter. He had moved out of the cabin completely. When Leo started skipping meals with them, Jason brought him food.  
On one particularly unfortunate day, Jason walked in on him changing.

His torso was bare, all besides a white band of fabric wrapped around his chest.

Jason was silent.

“What?” Leo laughed nervously, “It’s um — it’s a new machine I’m working on. ‘Got all the benefits of lightweight armor, without sacrificing any of the strength…yeah, I know it’s a cheap slogan, but that’s all I’ve got right now.”

“Leo, that’s… look, it’s okay, man. I know that’s a bind—”

“I’ve got to go,” he said, panicking, “But I’ll give you updates when it’s fully functional.”

“Leo —"

He slammed the bunker door in his face, leaving Jason dazed. He could hear muffled noises from inside, the rustle of coins and pumps of a spray bottle. Then Piper’s voice.

“Oh, god, Leo, what’s wrong?”

Jason left, not wanting to delve into any more of Leo’s personal life. He realized he didn’t have much of a place there even if he was supposed to be the Best Friend. It was just another title he couldn’t live up to.  
It made sense, though. The same way Nico’s secret made sense, because his had explained why he was so isolated, and Leo’s explained why he was never as close to Jason as he was to Piper. She must’ve found out that Leo was trans during the months they had spent together at the wilderness school.  
Jason walked back to his cabin, feeling pretty shitty. The fact that he was always finding out things like this by accident, that no one had ever trusted him enough to just tell him — it kind of stung. He didn’t want to make this about himself, though. He had to support Leo now, regardless of how he found out.  
He threw himself on his bed and flinched as something hard shifted underneath him. He felt around his back, feeling cold stone underneath his fingers. He pulled it out, a tablet engraved with calligraphy.

_Dear Jason,_   
_You can’t save everyone. You’re going to wear yourself thin trying. I know that you hero types just can’t help but take in every lost cause you meet, but please don’t worry about me. I’m fine on my own. Always have been. Just focus on enjoying the peace, however long it may last. You hero types deserve it._   
_Sincerely,_   
_Nico di Angelo_

Leave it to Nico di Angelo to write him a letter via epitaph. That kid was a million and one stereotypes, and Jason figured he was doing it on purpose at this point. He’d like to return the favor, maybe weave the clouds to make some sort of skyline writing, but that would make the message public and Nico would shoot him out of the sky before he could finish. Instead he scribbled something down on a piece of paper and stuck it underneath his pillow. A mental image of Nico as the tooth fairy came to mind.

_Dear Nico,_   
_I’m not trying to save everyone. I’m trying to save you. And anyway you’re more of a hero type than I am, no one can do what you do while expecting a knife to the back for your troubles. You’re not a lost cause, and just because you’re fine on your own, doesn’t mean you have to be. You deserve this peace just as much as I do._   
_Love,_   
_Jason Grace_

_PS: I’m not going to stop worrying._

* * *

Leo avoided him for another week before finally broaching the subject.

“Do you think I’m weird?” he had asked, twiddling with some machine in his hand.

“No. I get it. Sometimes people are just born the wrong gender. Dakota from my cohort is trans, so it’s not really anything new.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah. Are you going to stop avoiding me now?”

He bit the inside of his mouth.

“Alright, Piper told me I could tell you if I thought you’d take it well… and you’re taking it well so…”

“What?”

“Well, the other half of the puzzle, why… why Piper’s pretty much a sister to me. She’s trans too. When she found out, she let me borrow all of her old clothes and helped me with… stuff and I helped her too so… yeah. I mean,

Mist Jason knew about it, and I’m not sure why I thought the real thing would be any different, it’s just… a lot. But I trust you, man.”

“That’s… Thank you.”

“Oh, don’t go all misty-eyed on me. You’re not going to totally dump Piper now, are you?”

“Of course not. It doesn’t really change anything.”

Except that Piper may have been enjoying Camp Jupiter and its residents a little more than she intended to, and Jason was so strapped for time between writing letters back and forth to Nico, frantically trying to find out when he was retrieving them from under his pillow, and spending more time with Leo, trying to help him out of his post-Calypso funk. He didn’t realize that he hadn’t IM’d his girlfriend in over a month — or that she had even been gone for over a month, until she appeared in a green mist over his bed one night.

“Jason?”

“Piper! It’s been forever,” he smiled, “How’s my future president doing?”

“Uh,” she bit her bottom lip and leaned on her hands more, “Good, I guess… I have some news.”

“What? Don’t tell me their legal program’s thinking of taking you early.”

“Well… um, no, I… There’s not really an easy way to put this, but… Listen, you know how it was Hera who played matchmaker with us?”

“…Yeah, I guess? But —”

“Hera is the goddess of arranged marriages and home life. Isn’t it funny that she went out of her way to put us together and not the others?”

“Piper…”

She closed her eyes.

“I think… I think it’s because I wasn’t — Well, I don’t fit in to her definition of love.”

“What does that mean?” Jason asked, despite having a nagging feeling that he knew the answer.

“I’m… I’m not straight, Jason.”

Piper was the first person to openly tell him about their secret, but the truth stung more than he thought it would.

“You’re saying….”

“I noticed it in little ways at first, so it was easy to brush off,” she explained, still not looking at him, “How sometimes my arguments with Thalia got a little too heated, how I could listen to Annabeth talk for hours about architecture without understanding anything, and now, well… I think I might be in love with Reyna.” She finally looked up to meet his eyes.

“I… I get if this is a lot, I mean when we were together I was so focused on keeping you, because I was so scared of being alone again, I —”

“It’s okay, Pipes,” he smiled sadly, “As long as you’re happy, it’s okay.”  
There were tears in her eyes and she smiled back.

“I’m so sorry. But maybe… Well, if Hera paired us because she was homophobic, could that mean that you…?”  
Jason blinked.

He’d never really thought about. He hadn’t actually thought about anyone before Piper.

“It might.”

“So there might be someone else out there for you, too.”

“Yeah,” he said, “There just might be.”

After Piper had filled him in on what was going on at Camp Jupiter, they said their goodbyes and Jason landed back on his bed before he could think about the tombstone mail waiting for him. He groaned and sat up, looking it over.

_Dear Jason,_   
_My favorite color is actually teal, not black. I wear black because it’s easier to shadow-travel with, and it absorbs heat from the sun. I may be slightly prone to the cold, and it may slightly help with that. My favorite season is spring, I guess, since that’s when Persephone’s not in the Underworld. Hades’ temper is shorter but at least he acknowledges me. I can’t really remember my birthday; I just assume I’m a year older at New Years. No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Captain America? Or any films for that matter. But it sounds like a cheesy pirate movie. And I got Shakespeare’s ghost to write all of this down for me, in exchange I tell him stories. He thinks mine’s quite the tragedy, or whatever, but says it could use some more comic relief. (It’s true. You need to smile more, Nico). Don’t write that! Wait, no, stop writing what I’m saying. Just, here — I guess the ball’s in my court now, so I’m going to go with biggest pet peeve, lucky number, and most embarrassing moment, if you have any._   
_Sincerely,_   
_Nico di Angelo_   
_PS: (Nico summoned me in Philadelphia. Get here if you can, the boy really needs some human company.)_

Jason took a piece of paper from his nightstand and began writing.

_Dear Nico,_   
_My biggest pet peeve is a toss up between people who crack their knuckles and long lines. My lucky number would probably be seven, but that’s kind of predictable. I was part of the Seven. I do have plenty embarrassing moments, thank you very much. I’m terrible when it comes to sleepwalking and one night I woke up practically spooning Dakota. And then he started screaming so Reyna came in, expecting some monster attack, but it was just me in bed with him. Yeah, not exactly my best moment. And you’ve seriously never seen Captain America? It’s not a pirate movie, it’s about a super hero from the forties. Thought we could watch it and you could pick apart all the inaccuracies… and there’s actually something I really want to talk to you about in person, but I realize you’re not too keen on visiting. Goodbye forever and all that. For once, this is sort of a selfish request, because I doubt I can really talk about it with anyone but you. I’ve just gotten close to Leo and I don’t want to dump all my problems on him, Thalia’s with the hunters, and, I’m sorry, but Percy’s as sensitive as a ton of bricks. I’m not asking for you to drop everything, but even a short IM would be a godsend. I know us hero types aren’t supposed to ask for help, but I could really use yours. And if you can’t then at least what’s your favorite book?_   
_Love,_   
_Jason_

He crumpled it underneath his pillow. Any other day, he would’ve jumped at a lead on Nico’s whereabouts, but he was feeling more like a heartbroken teenager than a one man rescue team. That was probably selfish of him, but he couldn’t get his limbs to move. He thought he’d been in love with Piper, that they’d be together forever, it was the one thing he was really counting on. He was fine with it if she was happy, really, that’s all he wanted for Piper, but he couldn’t help feeling lost. He wasn’t lying about having no one else to talk to about this; he was slowly realizing that he didn’t have as many confidants as he thought. The only person he’d ever really trusted with his problems was a flighty son of Hades.

Somehow he managed to fall asleep, but it didn’t last long.

He was being shaken awake by said flighty son of Hades and his heart almost leapt out of his chest. It had been two long months since Jason had seen him, and even with the multitude of bruises and scabs that adorned his skin, he was a sight for sore eyes.

“Nico,” he practically squealed, “You really came!”

“Of course I did,” he said as if he’d never left, as if he’d always been by Jason’s side, “You’re my friend.”

“Can I… Would you mind…?” Jason opened his arms and Nico fought down his own uneasiness to choke out a quick “of course” before giving Jason a hug.

“What happened?” Nico asked gently.

“Piper broke up with me.”

 _“What?_ Why?”

“She said that our entire relationship was fabricated by Hera.”

Nico let go, but sat on the bed beside Jason. He hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder. The touch was light, like he was ready to retract his hand at any moment.

“Do you… Did it feel fabricated to you?”

He shook his head.

“I don’t know. I’d never been in a relationship before, I… Piper said that she only stayed with me because she was insecure, and I’m not sure what that means, but I’m pretty sure my personality wasn’t a factor.”

He fell back down on the bed, letting his arm cover his eyes. He could see Nico out of the corner of his eyes, fidgeting as if he wasn’t sure what to do.

“Um…” he gently removed Jason’s arm from his face and leaned down, his black curls draped around his face, “I’m sure she admired who you are over what you look like. You said she felt insecure? Well, you’re supportive and accepting, anyone would feel reassured by that.”

Jason stared at him, and Nico sat back up, his hair hiding his expression.

“…Why did you never come back? If we’re friends and all.”

Nico crossed his arms.

“I go where I’m needed.”

“What about what you need?”

“That’s irrelevant,” Nico scoffed, “We’re talking about you here.”

“Alright, well what if I need you to stay here with me? Would you do it then?”

Nico regarded him wearily.

“If you absolutely needed me to, then yes. But that’s not the case. You don’t really need me right now, I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“So you do care?” Jason teased.

Nico looked as if he’d been slapped.

“Yeah. Yeah, I do,” he replied shakily, “The callous, coldblooded son of Hades just might have a heart after all! Who knew?” He stood up, but Jason was quick to grab his wrist.

“You know I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that you left —”

“I didn’t have much of a choice.”

“Yes, you did. You could’ve stayed.”

“And what? Sleep in that mausoleum of a cabin by myself, eat at the empty Hades table? I’d be living alone either way, but here...” he ran a hand through his hair, “You don’t understand something about these campers, Jason. They’re terrified of me.”

“No, they’re not, you’re a hero.”

Nico laughed, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“A hero? Yeah, sure. I lug around a statue one time and suddenly everyone’s supposed to be singing my praises?”

“Nico.”

“No,” he jammed his hands into his pockets, “You’re wrong about me. I’m not a part of the Seven. I’m not a part of _anything._ But I didn’t come here to argue with you. I came here to help you through your break up but you’re being difficult.”

“Difficult,” Jason snorted, “This coming from the guy who argues against every compliment he gets.”

Nico frowned.

“This isn’t supposed to be about me, Jason.”

“Then admit it. Say that you’re a hero and we can get past this.”

“I’m not a hero,” he mumbled, “Not yet anyway.”

“Not yet?”

“I mean, I’m… I’m going to take up a quest for my father. If it goes well, everything will be fixed. But until then, until I actually prove myself — don’t call me a hero.”

“You’re going on a quest?”

“Yup. I can’t say too much. I talked to Chiron before I came here, he said it should be fine.”

“What’s the quest for?”

Nico smiled weakly.

“To undo an ancient grievance," he said in a mock-Chiron voice, "That’s all I really know, besides that I have to take two children of Aphrodite with me. Not sure how that’s going to work out, though, can’t think of anyone else besides Piper who’d want to come within ten feet of me.”

Nico’s eyes widened.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to —”

“It’s fine if you mention her. I’m kind of realizing that maybe we’re better off friends.”

“Was talking to me that calming?”

“Yeah, actually. Talking about your problems helps me put things in perspective.”

“Why? You think Will was right about me being a tragedy?”

“Well…” Jason started nervously, “You have been through a lot.”

“Yeah, but that’s no reason to throw some sort of Shakespearean pity party.”

“I’m not saying you need a pity party, but some self acceptance couldn’t hurt.”

Nico paused, looking at him with a pained expression before he schooled it back into indifference.

“I came here to help _you,_ Jason.”

“This is helping.”

“No, you’re trying to help me, but it’s not going to work. Why don’t… Why don’t we just watch that American pirate movie you were talking about?”

“Captain America,” Jason corrected, “And sure. You’re lucky that I own a copy.”

Jason got up and rummaged through his draws.

“Isn’t technology supposed to be forbidden?”

“Supposed to be,” Jason shrugged, digging a contraband laptop out from underneath his Camp Half-Blood t-shirts, “The Stoll brothers have practically set up a black market. 3 DVDs for 3 drachmas wasn’t a bad deal. I mean the laptop was 200 but that’s not that steep.”

He came back to sit on he bed next to Nico, powering up said 200 drachma laptop.

“W-What… we’re going to watch it on the bed?”

Jason gave him a look as it hummed to life.

“I don’t really see any other comfortable way to do this.”

Nico eyed the door for a moment before taking a deep breath.

“Alright.”

Jason sat up on the end, getting underneath the covers and situating the computer in his lap. Nico perched as far away from him as he could without falling off the bed, staying above the blankets and keeping his legs drawn to his chest.

“It’s four in the morning,” Jason said disbelievingly, staring at the time displayed in tiny white letters on his desktop, “Wow. Why were you up?”

Nico gave him a look.

“You’re up too.”

“I mean, you came and woke me up at four in the morning, Nico.”

He shrugged.

“Different time zones?”

“You were still on the east coast.”

“How do you know that?”

“Shakespeare told me,” Jason smirked, popping the DVD out from its case and into the side of his laptop, “So what were you doing up?”

“Errands for my dad.”

Jason clicked play when the main menu came up.

“Seems like that’s all you ever do.”

“Well, unlike some of us I actually kept my responsibilities after the war and —“

“Shh,” Jason cooed, the smirk never leaving his face, “It’s starting.”

Nico was pretty much enthralled from the moment Steve Rogers came on screen. He went from his omnipresent scowl to something vaguely resembling a smile, and when Steve outsmarted the other trainees by taking a screw out of the flagpole, Nico practically giggled. He pointed out every inaccuracy he could find, “there’s no way they had that kind of technology” and “New York was not nearly that pleasant.” By the time Steve was leading his own attacks against the Germans, Nico had bridged the gap between him and Jason, willing to brave the son of Jupiter’s shoulder in the name of a better view.

When the credits rolled, Nico’s face was somber.

“At least he got to say goodbye.”

“Yeah,” Jason said, looking him over, “But that’s not the end.”

“It’s not?”

“Marvel movies always have a little something after the credits.”

The bonus scene seemed to have more of an effect on Nico than the rest of the movie. When Jason finally turned it off, he noticed Nico was practically in shock, his eyes shrunk to pen points, eyebrows furrowed and hand covering his parted lips.

“You didn’t tell me he…” Nico gestured vaguely, “He was frozen in time. Same as me.”

“Yup.”

“And he… he had to adjust too.”

“Mhmm.”

“And everyone he loved… they’re all already dead.”

Jason closed the laptop and sat up, looking him in the eye. Nico was forced to do the same, what with his pillow compromised and all.

“Yeah, but he makes some friends in the 21st century and they help him through it.”

Nico squinted at him for a moment before looking away.

“I guess that’s where we differ.”

“Hey,” Jason said, putting a hand on his shoulder, “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Nico looked back to him, hesitantly.

“…Yeah, but… you’re really the only one. Living, anyway. And I’m more used to going without.”

“Nico…”

“Sorry. Forget I said anything. Just… did it help? Or do you still feel like crying into a carton of rock road?”

Jason considered that for a moment.

“Rocky road _does_ sound good right now.”

“You can’t have ice cream for breakfast, and that’s not what I asked.”

“Well… I mean, we did date for a while, but now… it almost feels like a dream.”

“…Do you miss it?”

“It was a long time coming. She’s been at Camp Jupiter for the past few months… We haven’t really been a couple in a while.”

“So do you feel better now?”

It was Jason’s turn to squint.

“If I say yes, are you going to leave?”

Nico frowned.

“I can’t stay here forever.”

“How about just until you have to leave on your quest?”

Nico ran a hand through his hair, contemplating.

“…Are you sure you want me here?”

“Of course.”

Nico shot him a skeptical look before crossing his arms and looking away.

“I can’t stay in the Hades cabin, though.”

“Why not?”

“I modeled it after my father’s palace in the underworld, and just below the underworld is…”

“Tartarus?”

Nico nodded. He hugged himself a bit tighter, and shivered, as if the name itself threatened to steal his sanity if he didn’t brace himself.

“Well, then why don’t you stay in Cabin 1 with me?”

Nico looked at him like he was insane.

“And have Zeus kill me in the middle of the night? No thanks.”

“Oh, come on, he would never —”

“Zeus and Hera _both_ hate me, they’d probably strike me down just to bond or something.”

“He wouldn’t run the risk of bringing his own cabin down just to get to you, jeez, you’re worse than Percy with this.”

Nico's expression hardened.

“Just forget it.”

Jason grabbed his wrist again before he could shadow travel away.

“Please? I promise nothing bad will happen to you.”

“Unless you can keep all 200 campers and all 13 Olympians at bay,” he jerked his arm away, “I doubt that’s a promise you’ll be able to keep.”

“Just give them a chance, Nico. Gods, give yourself a chance.”

“…I don’t think this is a good idea.” He said weakly.

“Just stay for the night, okay? You don’t have to go out if you don’t want to.”

“… Fine. But you have to convince two children of Aphrodite to go on a quest with me.”

“Done,” Jason tossed a pillow at him, “Now get some rest.”

“It’s almost six in the morning.”

“And? When was the last time you slept, anyway?”

Nico sent him a hard look before huffing, “Alright, I’ll sleep.”

He curled up on one of the other beds and Jason laid down in his own.

* * *

Jason woke up three hours later, 9 AM if the clock on his nightstand was anything to go by.  
Nico was sitting Indian style with his elbows propped up on his knees and his nose in a book.  
“Good morning.” Nico greeted, not looking up from the yellowed pages of the volume.  
“Uh… good morning? How long have you been awake?”  
“A half an hour, give or take a few minutes.”  
“You only slept for two hours?”  
“Jason,” he said sharply, finally putting the book down, “You ever had a dog before?”  
“Uh, yeah, but what does that have to do with —”  
“Then you know how they don’t really sleep at night — how they just have a lot of naps? My sleep schedule’s more like that.”  
Jason frowned, coming to sit next to Nico.  
“I’m not sure that’s healthy for a human.”  
“Of course it is,” Nico waved him off, “It’s also easier to fight off monsters if you’re only leaving yourself vulnerable for a couple hours at a time.”  
“Have you ever had an actual, full night’s rest?” Jason asked incredulously.  
“Before.” He said simply, but Jason knew what he meant. Nico’s life was split between Before and After. Before Bianca died, Before he discovered he was a son of Hades, Before Percy. And now, the After. The sleeping in back alleyways and clothes stolen from Goodwill.  
“Oh, don’t look at me like that. A normal night’s sleep is six hours, right? I take three two-hour naps a day, that’s perfectly fine.”  
“It’s eight hours,” Jason deadpanned, “And no, it’s not.”  
“Well, what you want me to do it’s like — it’s like eating a day’s worth of food in one sitting.”  
“Do you eat three meals a day, then?”  
“That’s off topic.”  
“Just answer the question.”  
“I try. I do, but I’m busy, Jason.”  
“Well, you’re not busy now, are you? Breakfast has probably already started, you should go.”  
Nico glowered at him.  
“You said I didn’t have to leave the cabin if I didn’t want to.”  
“Come on, you have to eat.”  
“I don’t have to do anything.”  
“Zeus didn’t strike you down when you slept here, and the campers aren’t going to immediately grab the pitchforks if you walk out of here.”  
Nico laughed at that, and Jason had no idea why, but in the end he did agree to go, as long as Jason sat at the Hades table with him.  
People were staring, of course, people always stared, but the looks were different this time, inimical where they were normally fond. Nico was especially sensitive to them, picking at his food and bobbing his knee up and down.  
“What were you reading back there?” he asked, hoping to dispel his anxiety.  
“Oh, you mean this?” he reached into the tables shadow and pulled out a little green book.  
“Frank and Steve? Never heard of it.”  
Nico shook his head, smiling slightly.  
“No, not Frank and Steve, Frankenstein. Sometimes I forget you’re dyslexic too.”  
“How can you read that?”  
“I’m wearing enchanted contacts,” he tapped his temple for emphasis, “They translate everything into ancient Greek so it’s easier to read.”  
“Really? How’d you score those?”  
“A daughter of Hephaestus gave them to me as a gift.”  
“That’s great,” Jason beamed, “I thought you said you weren’t accepted here at camp.”  
Nico shook his head, the almost smile leaving his face.  
“She died in the Titan War. I visited her in the underworld… It’s nothing personal, I know, I guess people just like me better when they’re dead.”  
“I like you plenty.”  
“Well, then you’re the exception.”  
There was a lull in conversation, when the other campers’ whispering grew louder and he knew he had to cover it up before the son of Hades decided to book it.  
“So, what’s Frankenstein about?”  
“Seriously?” he raised an eyebrow, “You don’t know the story of Frankenstein.”  
“I mean, I know there’s a Dr. Frankenstein, and he creates a monster and the monster’s named after him, but other than that? I don’t know a whole lot.”  
“Well, the monster isn’t really your typical monster. He’s smart and sweet and it’s not really his fault he was born the way he was,” he bit his lip, “He sort of reminds me of Bob.”  
“Bob?”  
“He was my best friend,” Nico’s voice was a wisp of sentimentality, and his eyes looked far-off, “I miss him.”  
“Who was he?”  
“He used to be the titan Iapetus, but after a dip in the river Lethe, he became Bob. Without his memories, he was really kind and loyal to me, a good listener too, but nowhere near as eloquent as Frankenstein. He held the Doors of Death closed in Tartarus for us. In the end he was a hero.”  
Jason tentatively put a hand on his shoulder and something fluttered in his chest when it wasn’t brushed off.  
“I’m sorry.”  
“It’s okay. I mean, I’m not really sure if he’s dead or not. I can’t stay in the underworld long enough to check.”  
“I’m still sorry,“ he regarded him for a moment, “…Does Frankenstein have a happy ending?”  
“I don’t know yet. I hope so. At the part I’m at, he’s living in the basement of this poor family, and he learns to speak and write and he really loves them. He helps out however he can without being spotted, because people are so afraid of him once they see him, but I think he’s going to eventually come out to them. I’m not really sure what’s going to happen when he does, but I really hope they accept him.”  
“I’m sure they will. People can be more accepting than you give them credit for.”  
Nico scowled, probably realizing that Jason didn’t ask so they could discuss literature.  
“I’ll let you know how it turns out.” He said coolly.  
“How what turns out?” Leo asked, setting his plate down next to Jason, “And when did the Ghost King here?”  
“Last night.” Jason answered, receiving an elbow to the stomach from said Ghost King.  
“Are you okay, man? Piper told me about…” he trailed off.  
“I’m fine.”  
“Good. Then I can go.” Nico made a motion to get up, only to be hauled back down by Jason.  
“No, you can’t. You still haven’t eaten anything.”  
“I don’t need to.”  
“Dude,” Leo interjected, “You kind of do. You’re practically a skeleton.”  
Nico crossed his arms.  
“I am not.”  
“You are so.” Leo reached awkwardly across the table to poke him in the ribs, “Holy Hephaestus. Jason, feel his chest.”  
“Don’t even think about it.” Nico spat, swatting Leo’s hand away.  
“I could feel his ribs, man,” Leo whispered, pointedly loud enough for Nico to hear despite the hand blocking his voice, “It was the scariest thing. It felt like death.”  
Nico fumed at that, and when he decided to leave this time, not even Jason’s grip could keep him there.  
Jason hit Leo upside the head. (Gently, though, because he knew his own strength.)  
“Why’d you have to say that?”  
“What? It was! There was hardly anything but skin and bone, I mean normally there’s at least a little fat, or I don’t know, something.”  
“You didn’t need to use the ‘s’ word.”  
“’S’ word?”  
“Scary.”  
Jason stood, picking up Nico’s still-full plate of food.  
“Where are you going?”  
“To make sure he doesn’t leave for another month.”

* * *

He found Nico sitting on top of his cabin, his legs dangling off the roof and his back flat against the marble.  
“That can’t be comfortable.” Jason said, coming to sit next to him.  
Nico sat up and shot him a look.  
“I brought your breakfast.”  
“Not hungry.”  
Jason sighed.  
“I’m sorry about Leo. He’s just — You know how he is.”  
Nico didn’t say anything to that, so Jason put his hand on his shoulder. Miraculously, he didn’t lose the limb immediately. Maybe since they became friends, shoulder touches were now welcomed.  
“He’s just worried and emotionally stunted.”  
“Leo? Worried about me?” Nico laughed.  
“He is. In his own way.”  
“By in his own way, I take it you mean he’s worried I’m going to curse him or something, then, yes, I’m sure he’s just beside himself.”  
“Hey, Leo can be an asshole sometimes, but he does care.”  
Nico snorted and fell back on the roof. Jason followed suit.  
“…Are you still going to stay?”  
The son of Hades ran a hand through his hair and looked back up at the sky.  
“…I have to talk to Chiron.”  
“Is that a yes?”  
“That’s an I-have-a-quest-to-prepare-for-and-sorry-if-I’m-better-at-prioritizing-than-you.”  
Jason smiled.  
“That’s a yes.”  
Nico groaned.  
“Are you still going to make me eat?”  
“You have to, Nico.”  
“I don’t —”  
“—Have to do anything? Of course not, but just… humor me, okay?”  
Nico narrowed his eyes at him.  
“Fine.”  
“Fine?”  
“You’re persistent, Jason, and I’m tired,” he sighed, “I’ll eat.”  
“You’ll eat?”  
Jason smiled.  
Nico returned the gesture as best he could.  
“I’ll eat.”

* * *

Living with Nico di Angelo was not without its difficulties. Nico did not settle in one place for very often, that much was obvious, but Jason didn’t realize how positively _undomesticated_ he was until he agreed to stay with him. He did his laundry in the creek, for one thing. Even offered to take Jason’s load with him. He bathed in the same creek the first few days, too, but Jason made him use his shower. The son of Hades quickly decided that he preferred warm showers to the icy water of New England’s natural streams. He didn’t own pajamas, either, slept in whatever he happened to be wearing, a knife under his pillow. There hadn’t been a monster attack at camp _in years_ , Jason tried to assure him, but old habits die hard and Nico was not letting go of that knife. There were other little instances that took Jason by surprise, where he got a glimpse of how feral Nico was, how wild, how the poor kid was desperately trying to remember what having a home was like and how it functioned. It was like taking one of Lupa’s wolves home, watching it figure out the foreign concept of luxury and how it fit in its worldview, getting over the initial fight or flight instinct whenever conflict arose, and overall, just learning how to trust. Not completely, never completely, but enough, more than Jason could ever hope for.

Out of the difficulties, there were rewards — rewards that made the whole struggle worthwhile. Jason had never been too close to anyone in his life — heavy is the crown and all that — but he had no choice when it came to Nico. If he was going to have his problems dissected and lifestyle called into question, then Jason was too. He demanded honesty, with dark eyes that could see through any bullshit notions and half-hearted ‘I’m fine’s.’ He brought out the best in Jason, the him that was buried under a mountain of responsibilities and expectations, and oddly enough, he brought out his optimism. Nico saw the good in the world, even if he’d never see it in himself, and he was quite the chatterbox when someone actually bothered to listen, though even that took a dozen ‘no, I don’t think it’s stupid, keep going’s’ on Jason's part.

“I haven’t seen Percy or Annabeth at all in the past few weeks.” Nico mentioned one night at dinner. True to his word, he was getting better about eating, evening meals included. Even if his diet still consisted only of fruit.  
Jason choked on his smoothie, which earned him a quirked eyebrow and a slight smile from his dining companion.  
“What? It’s not like mentioning him is going to completely wreck me. I told you, I’m over him.”  
“Of course.” Jason agreed a little too quickly.  
Nico crossed his arms. Jason found that he did that a lot, using anything he could to buffer himself from people. This time it seemed more defensive.  
“I am,” Nico hissed, “It was a stupid, childhood crush and it didn’t mean anything.”  
“I never said it did.”  
He narrowed his eyes.  
“Then why are you… why are you walking on eggshells about it?”  
“Because the last time I brought it up, you sorta blew up at me.”  
“Oh,” Nico’s collar almost touched his ears and his face went slightly red, _“That.”_  
“Yeah.” Jason said dumbly.  
“I’m sorry about that. I guess… I didn’t know you too well back then, I thought,” he gave a humorless laugh, “I thought… uh, it doesn’t even really matter.”  
“Oh, come on,” Jason said around a mouthful of mac and cheese, “You can’t _not_ tell me now.”  
Nico bit his lip.  
“You were just this natural born leader, you know, this too perfect son of Jupiter and you just didn’t get it. You still don’t, but back then…I mean, it’s not really your fault, it was my fatal flaw, the bitterness,” he fiddled with the zipper on his jacket, “I’ve struggled with fixing it my whole life, but it doesn’t seem to work. It’s the son of Hades in me, I guess the way Thalia can’t help being ambitious or Percy can’t help being loyal, I can’t help being bitter. Except that I have to help it, I p-promised I’d help it, I—”  
“Nico, are you okay?”  
“Yeah,” he nodded shakily, “I just… Sorry, what were we talking about before?”  
“How you yelled at me on the Argo II.”  
“Yeah, that. Sorry.”  
“You already apologized.”  
“Sorry,” Nico said instinctually, before putting a hand to his eyes, groaning, “Uh, sorry. I mean, no - just, you know what, forget — forget I said anything.”  
Jason raised an eyebrow and took a bite of his hamburger.  
“Percy and Annabeth have been touring New Rome.”  
“Settling down so soon after everything,” Nico mused, “Sounds just like them.”  
“When you live through two Olympian wars with someone, it’s hard not to move too fast.”  
“Right.” Nico agreed rigidly, “You never know how long the peace is going to last.”  
Jason gave a grim smile.  
“Well, we’ve already had two wars back to back. I think, by law, they have to give us some space.”  
“Gods don’t have to do anything, besides… peace isn’t all that great.”  
“And war is?”  
Nico popped a grape into his mouth.  
“All I’m saying is that things are easier during a war, believe it or not. Everyone’s united under the same cause, you don’t necessarily have to like your allies, but on the battlefield they’re a gods sent, and you have something to work for.”  
“Is that what you think?” Jason set his fork down, “That no one likes you unless they need you?”  
Nico ran a hand through his hair, eyes darting left.  
“We can’t all have a camp-wide fan club, Jason. And besides,” he licked his lips, “You don’t have to deal with the after effects during a war. You can focus on the future, on your goal —”  
“So it’s a distraction to you?”  
“I wouldn’t say that. B-But maybe... It is easier to ignore your problems if there’s a war effort that needs your help, so maybe it is a distraction. Is that bad?”  
“There are better ways to distract yourself than warfare.”  
“Not any that involve people actually tolerating me.”  
“Hey, people tolerate you plenty.”  
“What a compliment.”  
Jason pushed his plate aside.  
“Oh come on, that Ares girl and those Hermes twins seem to like you.”  
“Because I’m a good sparring partner.”  
“Is that any different than your war-torn fantasies?”  
“They’re not fantasies. Even I can think of a million better scenarios than war, but let’s face it, people only tolerate me when they need something.”  
“What about me?”  
“I guess… you’re just the exception.”  
“You know, you could have more exceptions if you actually tried with people.”  
Nico’s expression was strained and he scratched at the side of his face.  
“I’m sure I will someday.”  
The way he said it made Jason wonder if its meaning was really so skin deep. His voice was certain, determined even, but still carried a tremendous weight with it. Jason shook his head.  
“I’m sure you will too.”

When Jason woke the next morning, it was dark in his cabin. All the blinds had been drawn and all the lights were off, so that he could only see in greys. He flicked on his bedside lamp, and could barely make out Nico sitting with his back turned toward him, unmoving even after Jason called his names a couple times. He got up and made his way to the other bed.  
“You ready to head out for breakfast?” he asked, lying eagle spread on the untouched sheets, “I was thinking we could go eat next to Thalia’s pine today, if you’re up for it.”  
Silence.  
“Nico —”  
 _“Stop.”_  
His voice was thick and gravelly, metallic and biting, and Jason moved to get a better look at him.  
His eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and his fingers still clung to a worn book.  
“What -”  
“I said that Frankenstein reminded me of Bob,” his words were slow and shaking, but they made Jason shut up immediately, “But I was lying. It was _me._ I-I saw myself in him, I felt like we were the same.”  
It took Jason a moment to catch his meaning.  
“…You’re not a monster, Nico.”  
“But I am,” his voice broke, and he looked down at his hands as if he was afraid of them, “I am. You don’t understand, you don’t get it. In Tartarus, I… realized I…”  
“You’re not a monster,” he repeated firmly, dragging Nico into a side-hug, “You’re a hero.”  
“N-No, no I’m not, I wanted to be - gods, more than anything, I wanted to be, but that’s not what I am, Jason. There’s always been something wrong with me, always, even Hades begrudged me for it,” he laughed dryly, the sound coarse and raw like sandpaper in his throat, “My own father, ruler over the land of monsters, and even he can’t accept me. That’s got to mean something.”  
“Hades has never been the most touchy-feely god, but surely he does care about y—”  
Nico laughed again, and this time it was wet and desperate, as easy to swallow as molasses, and it got stuck in his throat halfway through.  
“He wanted Bianca. She was always better than me, at coping, at surviving, at comforting people and lifting spirits. She was so strong, so brave, she… _she_ was a hero. And all I ever do is remind people that she’s gone… g-gone…” his nails bit down into the side of his arms as he tried to stop shaking, “But even that’s not the real reason he hates looking at me. I-I’m a screw up, I wasn’t good enough to be the child of the first Great Prophecy, and I wasn’t good enough to be one of the Seven, and really it wasn’t a matter of my own mediocrity, b-but… it’s because I’m perverse. The Fates don’t choose people like me, and b-besides Hades has his champion now, Hazel was part of a Great Prophecy, I know I won’t be able to compete with that and I don’t want to. I don’t… I don’t… don’t….”  
The shaking got worse, so bad that the entire frame of the bed seemed to rock, and Jason reached out to steady him, but Nico pushed him away.  
“Don’t touch me!” he shrieked, “Your skin will burn off. I’m poisonous, p-poisonous…”  
He was having a panic attack, Jason realized. That or a flashback of Tartarus, maybe it was a side effect of making it out of there alive. Annabeth and Percy had stopped by the Apollo cabin tons of times for medication, and spent their first few nights back at camp crying and holding each other. Nico hadn’t given himself any sort of reprieve since Hazel had fed him ambrosia on the Argo II back when he was first rescued. And according to Percy, Nico’s trip had been worse. He could see Tartarus for what it really was,  alone with no one to help him through it, and his excursion had been topped off with being stuck in a jar, slowly losing oxygen for days.  
“Come on,” Jason took a firm grip on his arm despite the younger boy’s protests, “We’re going to the Apollo Cabin.”  
“N-No!” he cried, his free hand feeling around for the shadows, “Let me g-go, I don’t want to hurt you, please, please I never meant to hurt anyone, I’m sorry!”  
“Nico —“  
“I never wanted to be this, please, forgive me —“  
“There’s nothing to forgive, Nico, it’s alright, come on, I’m right here… I’m right here, okay?”  
He finally stopped blabbering, his ragged breathing the only sound in the cabin, too loud in Jason’s ears. He tentatively wrapped an arm around the son of Hades, who collapsed onto him, burying his face in his chest.  
"This is stupid. I should be able to control it, but sometimes I'm back there and...I’m s-scared,” he whispered, “I’m scared I’m going to wake up one day, reforming in Tartarus’s skin. I don’t want to be a monster.”  
“Shhh, you’re not, Nico. You’re brave. Impossibly brave. You have the biggest heart and the quickest mind out of everyone I’ve ever known and you deserve to be happy, you deserve so much more than you got, and I hope that one day you find someplace that feels like home.”  
Nico was silent for a while, soaking in the words and relishing in the solidity of Jason’s chest, how alive he was, how alive they _both_ were.  
“…Jason?”  
“Yeah?”  
“Does Captain America have a sequel?”

* * *

Nico still didn’t want to go to the Apollo Cabin. He remembered his first time there after the war with Gaea was over, remembered the argument that broke out over who was going to get stuck taking care of the son of Hades, how they had to settle it by pulling straws, and the poor unfortunate son of Apollo whose straw was shortest never stopped begging to switch with someone else. The experience wasn’t exactly one he wanted to relive, and Jason respected that. He got Jenny Albright, a daughter of Apollo he knew to be warm and accepting, to do a house call. He waited outside his cabin to give the two privacy. Jenny came out fifteen minutes later, a clipboard drawn to her chest and a worried look. Jason gulped.  
“What’s the diagnosis?”  
“PTSD, just like I thought. Surprisingly, it’s not that bad a case. After what he’s been through, I would’ve expected another Chris Rodriguez on our hands, but he’s taking it all… astonishingly well. He deals with it all head on, without making excuses or trying to build walls or wallow in denial. That’s all really great, but it seems he may have developed a bit of a complex. Sometimes it slips through when he has panic attacks, like the one you witnessed this morning, and with the occasional flashback. I’m afraid the experience is affecting his appetite, his sleep patterns, and his ability to clearly express emotions. Sometimes kids with PTSD can go days without eating, or without noticing that they haven’t, but his eating disorder started long before his trip to Tartarus, as did the insomnia. I suspect childhood trauma, but he wouldn’t tell me much. I’ll bring him medicine soon. I’ll give you more details later, but right now I’ve got to get these blood samples and measurements to my cabin. I’ll be able to give you a full report after that, okay?”  
“Alright.”  
She waved goodbye and ran off to the Apollo Cabin. Jason went back inside his own cabin, sitting down next to Nico on the second bed.  
“How’re you feeling?” he asked, nudging Nico’s thigh with his own.  
“I’m not a basket case.” He said tersely.  
“’Didn’t think you were. Tartarus just… it did a number on you. Percy and Annabeth were the same way when they first got back.”  
“I can’t see Percy ever being this pathetic.” He spat, eyes burning holes in the floor.  
“He cried for days, probably would’ve been weeks if he didn’t have Annabeth. You were the first demigod in all of history to make it out of Tartarus, cut yourself some slack.”  
“B-But you… you don’t understand what I saw down there.”  
“I don’t,” Jason agreed, putting an arm around his shoulder, “I’d like to, if you’re willing to share. It could help to talk to someone, you know. And I doubt you want to tell a stranger from the Apollo cabin.”  
“Strangers are easier. Disappointing _them_ has no consequence.”  
“You’re not going to disappoint me. But if you don’t feel comfortable talking about it, that’s fine, just know that I’m here if you change your mind, okay?”  
“Yeah,” he mumbled, “Sure. But it’s not going to be pretty if I do.”  
“That’s fine,” Jason said simply, “Right now, though, what can I do for you?”  
Nico shot him a confused look, digging his hands into his pockets.  
“You don’t have to do anything,” he stood up and brushed himself off a bit, “In fact, I… I should probably go. I haven’t seen my dad in weeks, he’ll be mad if I wait any longer. I’m pretty much his only living errand boy and there’s tons of things that need to be done.”  
Jason jumped to his feet.  
“Wait — you can’t go. You have your quest and Jenny’s going to bring over some medicine for you later and I haven’t even showed you around New York yet.” He spilled out in a rush.  
Nico raised an eyebrow.  
 _“You_ haven’t even been shown around New York.”  
“Then we can figure it out together.”  
Nico grimaced, his dark eyes flitting everywhere to keep from looking at Jason. He shook his head.  
“Please,” Jason pleaded, “I know I can’t keep you here if you really want to go, and I won’t try to, but… I’ll miss you.”  
Nico blew air out of his mouth in lieu of a laugh.  
“You still have an entire camp that adores you, Jason. You’ve got plenty of replacements to choose from.”  
“But none of them actually know me,” he kicked at the ground, “And none of them are you.”  
Nico crossed his arms, gaze still fixed far from Jason.  
“You mean you can’t play therapist with any of them.”  
“I mean none of them are as kind or as loyal as you. None of them would stick around if it was me who needed saving, not the way that you do. None of them would be able to look past my lineage and actually like me for me the way you do. Leo’s great and all, but I don’t want to scare him away with my problems and with you… I don’t feel like I’m a burden. I hate to admit it, but I think you’ve helped me far more than I’ve helped you.”  
It was hard to say who was more surprised, Nico or Jason. Jason was shocked that he just… put everything in the open like that, and that he meant every word. He hadn’t thought about Jupiter or Piper’s absence in his life since Nico had arrived. Thalia’s scarcity was also something that plagued him and yet he hadn’t quite felt the severity of abandonment as he used to before Nico. He didn’t feel pressured around the younger boy, he felt accepted, the weight on his shoulders completely gone whenever Nico would crack one of those rare smiles. Nico didn’t judge, didn’t see him as imperfect or perfect, but as simply Jason. He had forgotten the last time someone had really seen through the son of Jupiter grandeur, ignored it so completely it made Jason feel positively normal. Reyna came close, really close, but it never felt like this before.  
Nico’s eyes flashed to his, strong and hesitant all at the same time. He didn’t smile, but there was something in the way that he carried himself that made him appear pleased.  
Then he let out a long, over exaggerated sigh and the moment was gone.  
“Dad’s so going to kill me, but…”  
“…But?”  
He gave a small, crooked smile.  
“But I’ve always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty.”

* * *

Nico did the honors of shadow traveling them, a little ways off from the crowds. The chilly October weather of New York didn’t attract many tourists, so there weren’t long lines for trips up, but enough people so they could sneak in undetected. (Nico was the king of sneaking around, so they were as good as in). Except there were three problems: 1. Chilly October temperatures – Camp Half-Blood’s weather-block = one freezing son of Hades, 2. A son of Hades + heights = trouble and 3. Two children of the big three – Camp Half-Blood’s monster-block = a disaster waiting to happen.  
Jason noticed Nico was shivering after their security check, and offered up his windbreaker to satiate him.  
“Come on, it’s black, so you won’t have to ruin your whole doom and gloom thing going on.”  
“I do not have a doom and gloom thing going on,” he grumbled, “And if you give me your jacket, you’ll be cold.”  
“The cold doesn’t bother me.”  
“Jason,” Nico deadpanned, “You’re from California.”  
“Just take the jacket.”  
“No.”  
 _“Yes.”_  
 _“No.”_  
“Yes.”  
“…Fine.”  
“Fine?”  
 _“Fine.”_  
Nico shrugged on the windbreaker, sending Jason death glares as he did so.  
“Don’t pout.” Jason said, mostly just to tease him, because the looks he was getting from the son of Hades were more like tacit promises of decapitation than anything else.  
“I don’t pout.”  
Then his expression changed from offense to defense and, okay, now he was definitely pouting. Even his pouts had a little intimidation to them, probably because of his uncanny ability to inspire fear in other people, and even though Jason’s blood was running cold, he felt himself smiling.  
That threw Nico for a loop.  
“What? Why are you smiling?” He demanded, his grip on Jason’s fear weakening as surprise overcame his features.  
Jason laughed, putting a hand over his mouth as Nico attempted (and succeeded) at looking more and more intimidating.  
“Because,” he explained, still trying to stifle his laughter, “You — you’re doing that on purpose, you’re using your fear factor or whatever against me, oh my gods, that’s adorable.”  
Nico’s ears went red at the tips and he cranked up his “fear factor” until it was hard for Jason to breathe. He doubled over, coughing and laughing until Nico finally released him.  
“Sorry,” he reached out to check Jason’s pulse, and the apology was surprisingly sincere, “It’s a bad habit of mine.”  
When Jason stood upright and turned his eyes toward Nico, the younger boy bit the inside of his cheek and stepped away.  
“It’s okay. I’m fine.” Jason reassured him.  
The sight of Nico, practically swimming in his windbreaker, looking concerned and wary in equal measure, brought another smile to Jason’s lips.  
“Come on, the elevator’s not going to wait forever.”  
“I’m pretty sure it is,” Nico said dryly, but followed Jason to the sliding doors all the same, “Are you sure you want to go up to the top?”  
Jason gave him a look and he shoved his hands inside the pockets of the windbreaker.  
“All I’m saying is that Zeus doesn’t take well to his brother’s kids in his domain.”  
“Do me a favor,” Jason said, the elevator doors opening up for him, “Just forget about the gods for a second.”  
Nico hesitantly followed him inside.  
He still looked cagey, but at least he wasn’t trying to run away, which was a huge improvement. Whenever the elevator would lurch, Nico would latch onto Jason, relying on the insurance that Zeus would not shoot down his own son just to get to him.  
The third time Nico’s hand slipped into his, he didn’t let go.  
“What are you doing?” He demanded, trying to break contact. There was a slight increase in speed and he leaned back into him, his point moot. Jason answered anyway.  
“Delivering you from my father’s wrath.”  
“Ugh,” Nico sputtered, looking the opposite of convinced, “Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, I’m… I’m… you know.”  
“It doesn’t bother me.”  
“It seems like nothing does.” Nico griped, as if that was a valid complaint.  
“Why? You want me to be bothered?”  
“No. You’re just so… unfazed by everything,” he crinkled his nose, “It’s weird.”  
“I’m fazed by plenty. I’m terrified of being underground, I’m slightly claustrophobic, and I once cried for two hours when a bird that lived near by barracks died.” He rattled off easily.  
“I mean you’re unfazed by me.”  
Oh.  
“Oh.”  
Before Jason could say any more, the elevator opened. A man in a well-tailored suit stood in front of them, his dichromatic eyes glowing.  
“Um, are you one of the tour guides?” Jason asked calmly enough. His instincts were going haywire at the way the man smiled at Nico, not even noticing Jason. When he looked back, Nico was frozen in place inside the elevator, his grip on Jason increasing until the blonde had to fight back a wince.  
“Nico?”  
The man in the suit shook his head.  
“It’s so rude of you not to introduce me to your friend, Nico. I was unaware you had any. It is an… admittedly unpleasant surprise,” he turned back to Jason, “I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse its poor manners. The streets practically raised it. I’m Dr. Thorne, me and Nico here are related, unfortunately.”  
“No…” Nico whimpered, reaching for Stygian iron that wasn’t there. He had ditched his weapon in favor of making it past security.  
“Yes,” Dr. Thorne beamed, “Me and your friend, Nico, are the same. We are both monsters.”  
Nico flinched at the word, backing against the cold metal of the elevator, his eyes wide with fear and his head shaking.  
“Nico is not a monster.” Jason growled, reaching for the Imperial gold coin inside his pocket.  
“Why do you insist on protecting that vile creature? Do you not realize the pain it has caused?”  
“Not as much as you, I can imagine.”  
“No, it has done worse. Far worse. It drove its sister to join Artemis, to join the quest that ultimately got her killed. It’s caused limitless grief to everyone it’s ever been close to. It tricked Percy Jackson, got him trapped in the Underworld, and betrayed its own father trying to redeem itself. It betrays everyone in the end,” he spat at Nico, then turned back to Jason, “You look like a nice young man, son of Zeus, which is why I’m going to do you a favor.”  
“Mhmm. And what’s that?”  
“I’m taking that foul beast back to Tartarus, where it belongs. Where it won’t be able to hurt anyone ever again.”  
Jason flipped his coin, the golden hilt of his sword landing in his hand.  
“I don’t think so.”  
The man gave a roaring laugh, which morphed into just a roar as he changed shape. Soon a manticore came to stand in front of Jason, sharp teeth gleaming in the late afternoon sun.  
Jason had heard the legends, knew the myths, but he had never faced a manticore before. He knew to aim for the inside of the mouth, but it was not making it easy. Jason had to break almost all of its claws to even get close to its teeth, and even then its eerie smile blocked his sword. It took a good ten minutes to knock its teeth in and get to the inside of its mouth. It erupted into dust once Jason was through with it.  
With the manticore defeated, Jason turned back to Nico, who was sitting just outside the closed doors of the elevator, clutching at his head.  
“Are you okay?” Jason asked, kneeling down to match his eye level.  
Nico was quiet for a finite eternity.  
“… Jason, am I… are you sure that…” he swallowed thickly, “I need to hear you say it. I-I need to hear you say that I’m not a monster.”  
“You’re not a monster,” he slid his hand into Nico’s, “You’re all the things monsters fear. You’re bravery and grace and justice and everything right with the world.”  
“Now you’re overdoing it,” Nico laughed, but his eyes exuded gratitude, “I’m like a sixteenth of everything right with the world.”  
“Nah,” Jason cracked a smile, squeezing his hand, “You’re everything.”

* * *

They spent the rest of the day walking through the streets of New York, darting in and out of shops and buying from whatever food vendors happened to catch their eye. (Read: Jason’s eye.) They were splitting a chili cheese dog, partly because Jason was running out of American currency, and partly because Nico wouldn’t have bothered eating anything if Jason had bought him his own. When they made it to Central Park, the sun was beginning to set and the temperature was dropping so fast Jason half considered taking his jacket back.  
“You know Orpheus’s entrance to the Underworld is around here somewhere.” Nico mentioned, expertly navigating the park with Jason in tow.  
“Really?”  
“It moves around like Olympus does. You’d be surprised how many mythological land marks have continent jumped.”  
“I’m just glad Hercules didn’t make the trip.”  
“Huh. And here I thought you’d appreciate being around your zero to hero of an older brother.”  
“Don’t call him that,” Jason pinched his nose, “He’s not much of an underdog, not one I’d root for at least. In fact, he’s actually a big bag of dicks.”  
Nico let go of Jason’s hand and covered his mouth, his face extremely red.  
“What? What is it?”  
“Y-You… do you kiss Hera with that mouth?”  
“I don’t kiss Hera at all.”  
“That not what I… Hades, Jason, we’re in public and here you are talking like you’re sauced, or a juvie or something.”  
“Sauced? A juvie?”  
Nico’s sputtering subsided for a moment.  
“Do people not say that anymore?”  
“What,” Jason laughed, “Are you talking in 40’s slang?”  
“I can’t tell the difference sometimes,” he said quickly, crossing his arms, “Some things we said back then, you still say now, and some things you don’t. But I’ll tell you that in neither century was it appropriate to say… to say stuff like that!”  
“Oh. You’re upset because I cussed?”  
Nico didn’t answer. He faced the other direction and brought a hand to his face.  
“…Are you fanning yourself?”  
“N-No —”  
“Dude, it’s like zero degrees out here and you’re fanning yourself.”  
“Am not.” He brought his hands to his sides pointedly.  
“I guess Hazel’s really rubbing off on you.”  
“She is not.” He snapped.  
“Oh, come on, Nico, look at you with your 40’s slang and sensibilities. You’re so cute.”  
Nico looked pained.  
“You’re making fun of me.” He said sourly.  
“Nope. You can be sometimes, you know, when you forget to be intimidating 24/7.”  
“You’re still not off the hook for cursing.” Nico mumbled, trying to hide the red on his face.  
Jason shrugged.  
“What do I have to do to make it up to you?”  
“Wash your mouth out with soap.”  
Jason’s shoulders rounded.  
“Seriously?”  
“That’s what my mom made Bianca do. Or… maybe we should get a swear jar.”  
“Oh, so that’s what this is,” Jason cracked a grin, “You’re trying to capitalize on my bad habits.”  
“That’s not —”  
“Well, fine, but if we’re getting a swear jar, we’re also getting a slept-for-less-than-six-hours jar.”  
Nico gave a small smile and crossed his arms.  
“What, is that supposed to scare me? Let’s not forget my dad’s the god wealth.”  
“Hey,” Jason shrugged, “Either I get you to sleep more or I become a millionaire. It’s kind of a win-win for me.”  
“And who says I even have to put money in the jar, huh? I’m not legally obligated to give you a dime.”  
“Fine. Then we won’t get any jars,” Jason conceded, “You’ll just keep being sleep deprived and I’ll keep having a fucking filthy mouth.”  
“Jason!” he shrieked, eyebrows rising to his hairline.  
“What?” Jason giggled, leaning over to whisper in Nico’s ear, “Is it… _pissing_ you off?”  
Nico shoved Jason, sending him crashing down on his back.  
“Fuck,” he gasped, completely unintentional, “I keep forgetting you’ve got the strength of like, ten men.”  
He tried to move his abdomen, but pain flared all up his sides, keeping him down.  
“Alright,” he winced, “Make that twenty men.”  
Nico just stared down at him, still looking slightly scandalized, his dark eyes devoid of any remorse.  
“You going to help me up or something?”  
“Oh, so you want _me_ to be a gentleman? After that beautiful display of manners _you_ just gave?”  
“Don’t be difficult.”  
“Difficult is 50% of who I am, Jason.”  
“Funny.” Jason deadpanned, grabbing onto his ankle.  
Nico’s eyes widened.  
“You wouldn’t.”  
“You’re forgetting I’m 100% difficult.”  
And with that Jason pulled his ankle out from under him and Nico fell, his head slamming into Jason’s chest.  
“Ow,” he groaned, “You’re like a brick.”  
“Well now you know my pain.”  
“Yeah, but you deserved it.”  
Nico made a motion to get up, but Jason wrapped a hand around his bicep and pulled him back down.  
“What on Demeter’s green earth are you doing?” he half-shouted, half-laughed.  
“I’m with you to the end of the line, Nico.”  
“Don’t think quoting cinema to me will win me over, you juvie.”  
“You did it again! The 40s slang thing. Why have I never noticed that before?”  
“Because I am excellent at time-assimilation.” He replied, sardonically haughty as he relaxed against his chest. Jason craned his neck to look down at him, but all he could see was a mess of black hair. Jason wondered if he was hiding his face on purpose.  
“Alright, well what if I took you to see Hazel? Would that help me clear my name?”  
A pause.  
“... I iris message Hazel all the time, though, and I can just shadow travel whenever I want. You don’t really have anything more to offer.”  
“Don’t I? What if… What if I took you on a road trip to Camp Jupiter?”  
Nico snorted.  
“That sounds like an awful idea.”  
“Oh, don’t be like that. It could be fun. We could go sight seeing and stuff.”  
“Neither of us can drive.”  
Jason considered that for a moment.  
“...True,” he conceded, “But I _can_ fly.”  
“Unless you mean you can fly a car with me inside it, no way.”  
“Come on, it’ll be nice. Up in the clouds and stuff.”  
“Sorry if I’m adverse to being manhandled into the domain of a god who hates me.”  
“According to you, every god does though. So technically you’re always in the domain of a god who hates you, and yet you’re still alive.”  
“Barely,” and then he says after a beat, “Every god _does_ hate me.”  
“What about Apollo?”  
“Oh, yeah, god of sun and life? You mean the complete opposite of darkness and death? No idea why he’d hate me.”  
“Diana?”  
Nico laughed, but it was that sandpaper laugh from that morning all over again.  
“Hates guys in general, so that’s a no go.”  
“Vulcan?”  
“Built the machine that killed my sister, once told me that I had more screws loose than his tool box and told me to take a hike.”  
“Mars?”  
“He likes to blame me when things go wrong. But then again that’s everyone so I can’t really hold it against him. Oh, and there was that one time he tried to kill me. Actually, now that I’m thinking it wasn’t just that one time, but whatever.”  
“Bacchus?” Jason was getting desperate.  
Nico just shook his head.  
“Pretty sure he was happy to watch me run from camp. Even now that I’m here, he keeps asking when I’m going to leave.”  
“Venus?”  
“I,” he said, “Am not even going to comment.”  
“Neptune?”  
“That was probably the worst follow up question I’ve ever heard.”  
Jason winced.  
“Juno?”  
“Juno is the goddess of family and _marriage._ What part of me _doesn’t_ completely defile everything she stands for?”  
“I don’t know,” Jason muttered, sounding angrier than he meant to, “Maybe the part of you that sacrifices everything for family?”  
“That’s… different.”  
Jason scowled at the mess of black hair resting on his chest.  
“It’s really not, Nico. You’ve done more for family over the years than I ever have.”  
“But… you’re her champion, Jason, she’s groomed you for all this your entire life, and me…sometimes I can’t even remember what being part of a family felt like.” His tone dropped and Jason felt his heart sink with it.  
Jason’s grip on Nico tightened, and he thanked the gods that the younger boy didn’t try to break away.  
“You’ll get it eventually. You have Hazel, and you have me.”  
“Do I?” Nico asked, “Hazel has Frank, and Frank… I don’t think he likes me very much. I can tell he doesn’t want me around, and if he doesn’t want me around, then how long will it take for Hazel to agree with him? I mean, she’s got to realize sometime that I don’t… that I don’t fit in her life, and -”  
“That’s ridiculous. Frank’s way too sweet to ever -”  
 _“He’s_ not the problem!”  
Nico sat up and twisted around to face Jason.  
“The point is that no matter what, eventually she’s going to drop me. The iris messages will come less and less until she never calls and she’ll stop trying to invite me to her Thanksgivings and Christmases and she won’t bother anymore when I go missing. I... I’ll just slip through the cracks. I know that, okay? I’ve been ready for it for a while now. And the same thing’s going to happen with you.”  
“Nico, that’s not true, I would never -”  
“Sure, you say that now. But what happens a couple weeks down the line when you find some new demigoddess? What happens when you decide I’m too difficult to deal with?”  
“I’m not going to ditch you, Nico.”  
“But you will. Everyone always leaves.”  
He squeezes Nico’s shoulder.  
“Then I’ll be the first to stay. To the end of the line, you got that?”  
There was a pause where Nico turned away and went stiff, but it faded as he reclined back on Jason’s chest.  
“Didn’t I already tell you quoting movies is not going to get you anywhere?” He said, his words almost reminiscent of humor.  
“A guy can try, right?” Jason went along with the sudden change in mood, “But I could still escort you to Camp Jupiter. There’s this bakery in New Rome that sells the best double chocolate brownies. You’ll love them.”  
“I don’t like sweets.”  
“You’ll like these ones, trust me.”  
“I don’t. But somehow,” he glanced up at Jason, finally giving him a good look at the quasi-existent smile on his lips, “I think I’ll still take you up on that offer.”

* * *

They made plans to leave for Camp Jupiter after Nico picked up his subscription from Jenny. The daughter of Apollo took Jason aside, and gave him enough medicine to last their trip.  
“I also got some input from some of our senior campers and they think that… well, they think that Nico might have BPS.”  
“What’s that?”  
She bit her lip.  
“I don’t want to scare you or anything, it’s just a hunch and we really don’t know enough about his history with abuse but -”  
“Abuse?”  
She hesitated.  
“Not… well, if you can get him to talk to us sometime, it might be easier to rule it out as a possibility, but… he does show some of the signs. It might just be a side effect of Tartarus, though. We don’t really know what trip was like for him, but it’s just… I wanted you to know, just in case.”  
“Alright. Thanks, Jenny.”  
“Don’t hesitate to IM me if something comes up. Oh and Jason?”  
“Yeah?”  
“I hope you two have a nice trip.”

* * *

They ended up stopping in New Mexico around one AM, at a little national park called White Sands. A real original name, considering the entirety of it was white sand.  
“Hey I didn’t name this place,” Nico replied when Jason had pointed it out, “I just picked it, so no complaining, okay?”  
“Are we even supposed to be here after hours?”  
“... I don’t think you want me to answer that question.”  
There were mountainous dunes of the stuff, and although the trek up was tiring the eleventh time, sliding down was so worth it. The sand was cool and soft and tumbling down was like being wrapped up in an amiable cyclone, and for Jason at least, that was a good thing.  
“You know this would go faster if you just let me fly you up,” Jason pointed out, a couple rounds of dune-rolling after he realized he could use his son of Jupiter powers to his advantage.  
“For the last time, Jason, I do not want to be manhandled.”  
“Well, I’m tired of waiting for you.”  
“You don’t always have to let me go ahead of you.” Nico huffed, finally making it to the top.  
“I’m trying to be a gentleman here to, you know, redeem my juvie self.”  
“I hate to break it to you, but sneaking into a national park past curfew isn’t the best way to prove you’re not a juvie.”  
And with that, he tucked his arms close to his chest, and rolled down the dune. Jason followed after him, but a little too soon, and the blonde’s weight only sped up his descent, until he was tumbling into Nico, which is sweet in theory, but in practice it gets you elbowed in the chest and a whole mess of other limbs in your face. It isn’t until they get to the bottom that the experience is anything but painful.  
Nico’s leg is trapped under Jason’s, while he has one arm free and the other ensnared by Jason’s shoulder. His curls are curtained around his face and even in the dim moonlight, he can make out the red creeping up his neck.  
“Sorry,” he said, frantically untangling himself from Jason, with growing difficulty since Jason was useless and he has to individually pull each limb out from under him, “I-I’m so sorry, I -”  
“I-It’s alright, really I -”  
“We can go, if you want to,” Nico suggested quickly, “To Camp Jupiter. It might be a little late for them but -”  
“No, it’s fine. I mean, unless you want to, personally I wanted to do some stargazing. It’s a pretty clear night and it’d be a shame to waste it.”  
Jason was pretty sure he was coming on a little too strong, and it surprised him more than it did Nico. Mostly because Nico couldn’t wrap his head around someone actually wanting to spend time alone with him, but partly because Jason had never felt so… selfishly invested in hanging out with the son of Hades. Or maybe he had always been selfish about it. Nico had wanted to return to the Underworld just that afternoon, and as a friend he was supposed to support his decision, but he had wanted Nico to stay, not because that’s what was best for Nico, but because he wanted the son of Hades to stay for him. And he was doing it again now, but this time it was glaringly obvious. He didn’t have Nico’s best interest at heart. He only had his own.  
He felt like he might’ve crossed a line somewhere, like he had somehow betrayed Nico’s friendship, but all of that was washed away when Nico replied,  
“Sure. But I am way too out of it to make it to the top. It took enough out of me just to shadow-travel us here, you know.”  
“Then I’ll fly you up.”  
He looked ready to protest, but then he stared back up at the dune as if it was Mt. Everest, and after a moment, all of his resolve faded.  
“Fine. But just this once.”  
Jason wrapped his arms around Nico, trying to lighten his grip when the boy squeaked in discomfort. The air was dry and cool and if Jason hovered for a moment too long just to enjoy the moment, well who would hold it against him?  
“Are you going to do that cliché thing where you point out all the different constellations?” Jason asked when they flopped back down on the sand.  
“What? Romans didn’t teach you astrology?”  
“Then you want _me_ to do that cliché thing where I point out all the different constellations?”  
“Well now it’s a given. You sort of have to prove you have basic knowledge of star formations.”  
“But my dad’s the lord of the sky.”  
“Then doesn’t that mean you can feel them?”  
Jason tore his eyes away from Nico for a moment to glance up at them.  
“Yeah, actually. But it doesn’t feel like you think it would. It’s not some intense connection or anything they’re like… little fires, and I can feel their warmth, but distantly, it’s… dulled.”  
Jason never claimed to be the most eloquent of demigods.  
“That sounds nice,” Nico said it lightheartedly, but his smile was strained, “Can you feel clouds?”  
Jason hesitated.  
“Not so much. They’re more Poseidon’s element.”  
Nico snorted.  
“Isn’t that quaint.”  
“Isn’t what quaint?”  
“Poseidon seems to have a foot in everyone’s domain, doesn’t he? I mean… well, there’s rain, storms, and hurricanes which puts him in your father’s domain. He’s called the earthshaker, and he controls the main rivers in the Underworld, which puts him in my father’s. He controls the blood in your veins, pretty much your very life force, too.”  
“Makes you wonder what they were thinking when they split up the earth.”  
“Oh, I don’t have to wonder. It’s Hades’ favorite story to tell,” Nico mumbled, “I take it with a grain of salt, though. My old man’s not exactly known for his honesty.”  
“He’s lied to you before,” Jason said before he could think, “About ‘just talking’ to Percy.”  
At first Jason thought Nico was going to just roll over on his side and let the conversation drop, but instead he sighed, letting his arm cover his eyes.  
“Yeah,” he said thickly, “But none of it would’ve happened if I hadn’t lied to Percy, so I can’t really blame him. I mean, I’m far worse than he is.”  
“You know that’s not true.”  
“Do I?” Nico scoffed, “Why are you even defending me? You said it yourself, back on the Argo II. I’m not exactly the most trustworthy person.”  
“That was before I got to know you. And everyone lies, Nico, what matters is whether or not you meant to hurt someone. And you didn’t.”  
“But I hurt them anyway. Isn’t that just as bad?”  
“No,” Jason said firmly, “You’re sorry about what happened with Percy, and you’ve learned from your mistakes, so stop beating yourself up over it.”  
Nico let out a noise halfway between cynicism and frustration.  
“If it’s all fine and dandy, then why haven’t I been forgiven? Why don’t I get a second chance? Huh, Jason? You heard the story from Percy’s point of view, you know how he feels about me, and Perseus Jackson does not hate someone for no reason.”  
“He doesn’t hate you.”  
“Fine. Mild disgust then, but the point still stands.”  
“He’s not disgusted, Nico, he just doesn’t know where he stands with you. His loyalty extends to you too, you know.”  
“His loyalty extends…” Nico laughed in a voice like vapor, wispy with sarcasm and disbelief, “Percy has never liked me, Jason. The first time we met, gods, he was so annoyed. I was too excited about everything with no brain-to-mouth-filter, but after Bianca died… He just saw me as creepy. One time… One time he told me that I could fit in at camp. That I could have friends. But after everything I had gone through it felt impossible. I’d been away from living people for so long, I didn’t know what it would be like to go back and be accepted, didn’t know if I would be. It sounded too good to be true, but I wanted it to be. So I asked him. I… I asked him if he really thought it was true. Could I really be accepted back at camp?”  
“And what did he say?”  
Nico shook his head, closing his eyes as tight as they would close.  
“He didn’t even justify that with an answer,” he laughed bitterly, “He’s done that to me so many times I wonder why I even bother opening my mouth in the first place. Nothing I say, nothing I do is ever good enough for him.”  
“Well then he’s missing out.”  
Nico eyed Jason from between the cracks of his fingers, a look of pure suspicion concealed beneath his palm.  
“Don’t say stuff like that.”  
“Why not? It’s true, isn’t it? He let’s all this petty stuff keep him from getting to know you, and that’s his loss.”  
“He is not the problem here.”  
“Well you’re not either.”  
“Really? Then what is the problem, Jason? If not me, what?”  
“Poor communication skills? Unfortunate circumstances? I don’t know. Nico, you were twelve and your only living family member refused to tell you anything about yourself unless you took Percy to him. No one blames you for taking that deal.”  
“I do. Percy does.”  
“Well, you both shouldn’t,” Jason turned on his side, watching Nico carefully, “Besides, you can’t believe he’d hold a grudge this long.”  
“It’s not a grudge,” Nico said all too quickly, “Percy doesn’t hold grudges; that’s my fatal flaw, remember? His is loyalty and I betrayed that, betrayed practically everything he stands for, so he has every right to be mad at me, for as many years as he wants.”  
“Do you even hear yourself?” Jason muttered angrily, “That’s practically the definition of holding a grudge. You can’t defend Percy and damn yourself at the same time, okay? Either you’re both right or you’re both wrong, because it seems to me that your grievances are the same. And you’ve learned, you’ve conquered your fatal flaw, but Percy is still holding this grudge against you and it’s not fair that you’re condemned when he’s idolized.”  
Jason didn’t realize how loud he was until his words were underscored by silence. Nico had sat up, his legs tucked to the side of him as he stared at Jason. The moonlight graced his cheekbones, rested on the bow of his lips, and in that moment, with his innocent eyes and disheveled hair, Nico di Angelo didn’t look completely hopeless.  
“Why do you care so much?” he asked in a small voice, “Why do you always defend me?”  
 _Because you’re so passionate about everything you do and you care for the abandoned, you pay attention to the forgotten, you fight like hell for people who don’t even give you a second thought. You’re so beautiful and I just want you to see it._  
“Because you’re worth it.” Jason replied instead.  
Nico’s parted lips twitched up into a smile, and he looked down at his hands.  
“Thanks.”  
“You really don’t have to thank me.”  
“Oh, just take the credit, would you?” he said, flopping down on his back again, “Now. Are you going to talk constellations to me, or do I have to be the big cliché?”  
Jason beamed.  
“I thought you’d never ask.”

* * *

They ended up falling asleep at the top of the dune, and the next morning Jason woke up to Nico shaking him.  
“Unless you want national park police on our trail, I suggest you get up.”  
“Huh,” Jason propped himself up on his elbows, “What time is it?”  
“11:32 AM. I would’ve let you sleep in, but there are officers now and we have to get out of here.”  
“How long have you been awake?”  
The shadows underneath Nico’s eyes were more prominent than they had been the night before. That might just be the sun illuminating them, but Jason has made it his business to be sure Nico sleeps.  
“Since the sun came up. Now come on. I’m going to shadow-travel us to Camp Jupiter.”  
Jason took his hand, and closed his eyes.  
Shadow-travel felt like being dipped in a pool of ink and coming out dry on the other side. At least that’s what it felt like for Jason, the blonde assumed it must be like being dipped in a pool of melatonin for Nico, because the poor kid was out like a light the second they touched down in New Rome.  
And of course, Nico put them right in the middle of traffic. Jason had to hoist him up in his arms, and run out of the street before they both became road kill. They were a ways off from Hazel and Frank’s apartment, but Jason said he’d escort Nico and he was dead set on finishing this job, so he started walking, ninety-pound demigod in hand.  
Hazel almost screamed when he walked through the door, and led Jason over to her bed so he could set Nico down.  
“Oh gods,” she breathed, “What happened?”  
“Uh, he’s not injured or anything,” Jason said quickly, “It just took a lot out of him to shadow-travel us this far.”  
She sighed, sitting down on the bed with him.  
“He hardly ever visits, you know. He answers all of IM’s, but I still feel like it’s been years since I’ve actually talked to him,” she brushed his bangs to the side, “How is he doing? I mean, how is he really doing?”  
“Better,” Jason gave her a small smile, “He’s definitely doing better.”  
“That’s good,” she smiled wanly, “If I had known you two were stopping by, I would’ve gone to the store. Me and Frank were just going to get takeout for lunch, but now that we have guests… You know, I don’t think he’s had a home cooked meal since the 40’s. I really should make something.”  
Her eyes were still trained on Nico, like she was scared that if she didn’t watch him closely enough, he’d disappear again. Which wasn’t exactly an irrational fear when it came to Nico — it was one he could certainly relate to.  
“I could go to the store for you, if you want. That way you two can have some time to catch up when he regains consciousness.”  
“Oh, would you?” she beamed, “Thank you. Here, let me give you a list.”

* * *

Hazel sent Jason out to get two cartons of milk, eight ounces of cream cheese, beef patties, tomatoes, lettuce, peanut butter, and a pack of burger buns for lunch, and he was happy to make the trip. Being around the buzz of New Rome again was nice, really nice, and for a couple blissful moments of prancing around the marketplace, Jason had forgotten why he’d ever left. Camp Half-Blood was great too, no doubt, but it was a little too… stagnant. After you were too old, it was either back to the mortal world, or into whatever job you could get from a mythological employer. But here, he could feel an entire life ahead of him. Maybe he was a little too Greek to be Roman, but these streets hit him with nostalgia and possibility, and if Percy and Annabeth were welcomed here, then maybe his spot of Greek wouldn’t matter too much.  
He was walking back to Hazel and Frank’s apartment, grocery bags lined up both arms, when he felt someone’s hand grab his ass.  
“Hey there, stranger,” greeted Piper, “’S been a long time.”  
“Was that… completely necessary?”  
“Absolutely. Greek tradition, whenever you see an ex of yours, you’ve gotta give their ass a squeeze. Still firm, I see.”  
“Piper, that’s kind of sexual harassment.”  
“Well, then I’ll make it up to you. How ‘bout I carry those bags for you?”  
She didn’t even wait for a reply, just grabbed a couple bags from his sleeves and adjusted them like a purse on her shoulders.  
“So. Where’re you headed?”  
“Hazel and Frank’s apartment. Hazel sent me out to get some groceries so she could cook lunch.”  
“Well, why were you at Hazel’s anyway?”  
“Is that jealousy I detect?”  
“No way,” she laughed, “Just curious. I thought if you did visit, Reyna would probably be the first person you’d see.”  
“Well, I came here with Nico so he could see his sister before he left on his quest.”  
“Whoa, whoa, back up. First, you actually got Nico to come out of hiding?”  
“Yeah, he’s been living with me at Camp Half-Blood for a couple weeks now and —“  
“And he has a quest too? Why haven’t I heard about any of this?”  
“He’s very hush-hush about it, but I think it’s mostly because he doesn’t know that much himself.”  
“Hmm,” she hummed, readjusting the bags, “So what’s it like living with the elusive son of Hades? I imagine there’s a lot of catching him trying to run away.”  
“Actually,” Jason scratched at his jaw, “No. He’s never really tried to leave.”  
“Seriously?” Piper laughed, “Did you housebreak him or something?”  
“He’s not a dog, Piper,” he said thinly, “He was just dealing with a lot.”  
“Oh, I know, Annabeth told me the story.”  
“Mhmm,” Jason gritted his teeth, “Because Annabeth is such a reliable source.”  
“Touchy,” she stopped to snap the heel of her flats back into place, “I think Nico is rubbing off on you.”  
“Well, she isn’t, okay? And no one’s ever really tried to hear things from his point of view.”  
“But you did, I take it,” she looked at him with calculating, kaleidoscope eyes, “So, Nico told you everything, just like that?”  
“Well, sort of, but —“  
“Sooo,” she interrupted, “Nico’s gone from avoiding you like the plague, to telling you everything? Seems like the kid’s really warmed up to you.”  
Jason’s eyes narrowed. Something in Piper’s voice was a little too sweet.  
“I guess…” he said warily, “Why do I get the feeling you’re going somewhere with all of this?”  
“That’s my ex-praetor boyfriend, cutting right to the chase. I was just thinking it’s a little strange, is all.”  
Jason sighed.  
“What’s strange?”  
“That of all the people to come to after promising to disappear forever, it was you. The same kid who used to hide up on the mast so he wouldn’t have to talk to anyone, is now spilling his guts. He never stays in one place too long, but now he’s decided to settle down? It’s just…strange.”  
“Not really. You make it sound like he just did all of this out of the blue. It’s been a slow process trying to get him to open up to me, and a lot of times it’s two steps forward, one step back. The only reason he showed up in the first place was because I needed him; he doesn’t like being the only one to talk, so I’ve actually spilled my guts more times than he has, just trying to make him feel comfortable with it. I don’t think anyone’s ever really listened to him before.”  
Piper smiled, tapping Jason’s wrist.  
“Sounds to me like you’ve warmed up to him too.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I mean I think he’s grown on you, you just seemed to care more…personally, if that makes any sense.”  
“He’s my friend.”  
“Would you have done all this for any of your other friends?”  
“What are you getting at?”  
“Nothing, nothing,” she said, but her smile betrayed her, “I just think that you’ve found the love Hera was trying to keep you from.”  
“Nico’s just a friend,” he said frantically, “And he doesn’t even like me like that.”  
“I’m just saying, it would make sense. I mean, with Reyna I feel like… like it was meant to be, like she’s who I was just supposed to be with, even thought I know that’s like, the sappiest thing. I just… I want you to find that someone too.”  
“Piper —"  
“Nu-uh, we are not getting sappy right now. I am done being sappy. But as a daughter of Aphrodite, my word is gold, and I say it’s inevitable you two are going to be together. Okay, that was kind of sappy, so the non-sappy talk starts now. Want to hear about New Rome’s legal program?”  
“You ask as if I have a choice.”  
“That’s certainly true.” She laughed.

* * *

When they got back to Hazel’s apartment, Nico was awake and talking with Hazel, laughing about some unknown joke as Frank rummaged through a photo album.  
If Jason stopped to admire the smile on his face, who could really hold it against him?  
(Piper did elbow him while they put up the groceries though.)  
“We’re looking at baby pictures.” Nico informed him, slipping into their set up to help put the milk away.  
“Whose?”  
“Hazel’s. Dad sent her a box of stuff from her childhood after the war with Gaea.”  
“Really?" Jason found that a bit… out of character. Nico had to run countless “errands” for Hades to even tell him his mother’s name. He didn’t exactly seem to be the most generous father with tokens of the past.  
“Don’t sound so surprised,” he nudged Jason, “He may not seem like it, but Dad’s one of the most sentimental gods when it comes to his kids. He kept a bunch of Bianca’s old tapes from when she would record herself singing, and a couple of her report cards. He even kept her old cap.”  
“What about you?” Piper asked, struggling to place a jar of peanut butter on the top shelf.  
Nico stood up straighter, as if he had forgotten Piper was there. He inched away from Jason and brought his hands to his sides.  
“Um, maybe it’s different since I’m not dead. I guess he might’ve just collected all that stuff posthumously.”  
“But weren’t you born in the forties?” she pressed on, “Wouldn’t he have had to get it all then?”  
Nico fiddled with his skull ring, looking like he was seconds from calling on the earth to swallow him.  
“Um, I think that’s the last of the groceries.” Jason announced, hoping to change the subject.  
“Thanks,” Hazel said, walking in from the living room, “Would you like to stay for lunch, Piper?”  
“Uh, no thanks, I sort of already have plans. Reyna and I should be free for dinner though, would that work with you?”  
“I’m really not sure I could cook that much, to be honest.” Hazel laughed.  
“What if we went out for dinner? I know this great gyro place down the street.”  
“Sure, how does eight o’clock sound?”  
“Great. See you all later. And Jason, remember what we talked about.” She said with a wink, before leaving through the front door.  
“Well,” Hazel huffed, “Jason, why don’t you help me with these burgers, I think Frank and Nico can handle the salad themselves.”  
Frank looked a little distressed at that, but thankfully didn’t say anything. He just pulled out a bowl from the cabinet and a couple bags of assorted vegetables from the fridge and did his best to give Nico a smile.  
“So, Jason,” Hazel began once the pans were all sprayed down with vegetable oil, “How’d you do it?”  
“Do what?”  
“Get Nico to stay with you.”  
Jason took two patties out and distributed them evenly between himself and Hazel.  
“That certainly is a popular topic today, isn’t it?” he sighed, “Nico’s really stubborn, and he’s got the iron will to back it up, so I don’t really think it was anything I did that made him stay. I think he was just sick of being on his own.”  
“Why did you let him stay with you? Honestly, I couldn’t imagine any member of the Seven besides me and Frank taking him in.”  
“I guess he just…grew on me.” Jason replied, thinking about his conversation with Piper.  
“Listen, I’ve got to warn you. Because Nico is my brother and his life is kind of one big nightmare.” She said, flipping her burger.  
“Warn me?”

 

“Don’t tell me,” Frank said, cutting up a tomato, “You’re going to give me one of those ‘if you break her heart I’ll break your bones’ talks, aren’t you?”  
Nico frowned, dumping some Romaine lettuce into the bowl.  
“Why would I need to do that? I know you’re a good guy, and that you make her happy. I should actually be thanking you, really. Without you, she probably would’ve been miserable here at camp, and you got her through that war in one piece. Besides,” he gave a small smile, “Hazel can take care of herself. She’s her own person capable of making her own decisions, and I trust the one’s she’s made so far. If you break Hazel’s heart, you’re going to have to answer to her, not me. Hazel’s the one who makes the rules here. She knows what’s best for her, and she doesn’t need me threatening every guy she meets.”

 

“Yes,” Hazel said, “Warn you that if you do anything to hurt him, we’re going to have a problem. I can’t — I just can’t see him put through anything else, alright? I know that he has his quest and everything and I can’t really protect him, but he has gotten better, since the whole Tartarus disaster, and I don’t know what I’ll do if he slips back into barely talking to me. But what I’m really trying to say is he just… he doesn’t open up to many people, so be careful.”  
“That…was the politest threat I’ve ever heard.”  
“Yeah, well, I thought of actually threatening you, but that’s probably not fair. I mean, you’ve got him to open up a little at least, I just want you to make sure you don’t undo that progress.”  
“Undo it how?”  
“Relationships are tricky,” she shrugged, throwing another patty down on the grill, “But don’t think I haven’t noticed you mooning over him.”  
“ _M-Mooning_?”  
“Okay, so maybe mooning’s a bit strong. But I was going for dramatic anyway.”  
“But — But he’s your brother —“  
“I was born in the thirties, Jason, not yesterday,” she flipped the patty over onto a bun, “Now what do you want on your burger?”

* * *

Jason had to hand it to her, the burgers were probably some of the best he’d ever had. Unfortunately, Nico didn’t share his appreciation, seeing as how the only thing he actually managed to eat were bits and pieces of his salad. Hazel shot him a worrying look, but didn’t say anything.  
“So, Frank,” Jason said, “How’s being praetor alongside Reyna?”  
“Truthfully?” he asked, lowering his burger, “A little frightening at times, a lot of work, but…”  
“Rewarding?”  
“Yeah. And I couldn’t ask for a better partner than Reyna. I’m still sort of learning the ropes, but generally I think we work well together.”  
“That’s good. Is Octavian still causing trouble?”  
“I don’t know, is the sky still blue?”  
“Fair point.”  
“Well, how’s Camp-Half Blood?” Hazel asked, “I mean all we’ve really seen of it were the landscapes Leo installed in the Argo II.”  
“It’s really nice, but a lot smaller, I guess. They don’t have any colleges or places for the campers to go when they get older, though.”  
“Oh? Then what happens after they reach a certain age? Do they just leave?”  
“Yeah. Some return to the mortal world, some go to get jobs with their parents. But a lot are migrating to New Rome now.”  
“I know,” Frank said around a mouthful of hamburger, “Reyna and I have to organize new housing. There’s talk of expanding the barracks too.”  
“Yeah, I noticed things were a bit crowded here when I went out with Piper. But I had no idea how much I really missed this place until I came back.”  
“Do you plan on coming back permanently?”  
Jason shrugged.  
“Probably. I don’t really think I’d want a job running errands for Jupiter.”  
“Same,” Frank said, “Mars isn’t exactly my ideal employer.”  
“Pluto’s not so bad,” Hazel shrugged, “Right, Ni— where’s Nico?”  
“He was right next to me a minute ago, I swear.” Jason said.  
Hazel sighed and put her head in her hands. Frank put a hand on her shoulder and gave Jason a look.  
“I’ll go look for him.” He announced, standing up and pushing his chair in.  
He found Nico outside the apartment door, sitting beside the window, hands in his hair.  
“Sorry,” he said in a worn voice, “I felt like I was about to have a panic attack, but, uh, false alarm, I guess.”  
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, sliding down next to him.  
“I don’t know. It’s just… different, _this,_ I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and had an actual meal with more than one person before. I don’t want to ruin it by saying the wrong thing, but I also don’t want to stay quiet either. It’s such a stupid thing to be stressed about, but… I want this to be a good memory for Hazel.”  
“Hey, it’s not stupid. I get stressed about impressing my sister all the time. And you can’t ruin lunch by talking, I’m sure whatever you have to say, Hazel wants to listen.”  
Nico just shook his head, wrapping his arms around his knees.  
“Hazel’s your sister and she cares about you, Nico.”  
“I think she just feels bad for me. Before Tartarus, before all of this, she told me she didn’t trust me. And I don’t think I’ve done anything to change her mind on that one.”  
“Nico, that’s ridiculous —”  
“Maybe to you, but no one has ever really trusted me, and I’ve had years to get used to it. Years to see the little subtle hints, the way people subconsciously treat me differently because of that mistrust and Hazel… I see the same tells in her. She doesn’t trust me, and I think that underneath all of this, she doesn’t even like me. I just… I wanted to leave her with at least one good memory of me. But I can’t even get through lunch. I couldn’t even finish a burger.”  
“Hey, Nico, it’s fine. It’s fine, she loves you, she really does, okay? Believe me, she just wants to be closer to you. And we can go back inside and you can finish your burger, alright?”  
Nico shook his head again.  
“I’m a vegetarian.” He said miserably.  
“What?”  
“I don’t eat meat.”  
“Yeah, I know that, but why not?”  
“Because,” Nico sighed, “When I was younger I thought that if I stopped eating meat animals wouldn’t avoid me anymore. It didn’t work, but…”  
“You kept not eating meat?”  
“Just in case one day it does work.”  
“Well, I’ll eat your burger for you if you want.”  
“Hazel’s going to notice that.”  
“No, no, we’ll be sneaky about it. You put a lot of salad on your plate to cover it up and then you can slip the burger on to mine.”  
In the end, the plan actually did work. Not because Jason was a particularly skillful strategist, but because when Nico actually did join the conversation, Hazel could care less about any suspicious plate movement, she was too busy beaming and laughing, holding Frank’s hand under the table and celebrating it as a victory. Nico ate up the attention, coming out of his shell little by little until he was actually laughing (full smile, scrunched up nose, crinkling eyes, the works), joking with Frank about some old card game they both used to play. Jason may have stared a little too long, and Hazel may have caught him in the act, but at least her acknowledgement was tacit.  
“Wait, so you guys seriously haven’t seen Scarface?” Hazel asked incredulously, “It’s the best movie of all time, Nico back me up on this.”  
Nico shrugged.  
“I don’t remember it that much, just that my mom was mad Paul Muni was playing an Italian immigrant.”  
“Well, questionable casting decisions aside, didn’t you love it?”  
“Totally,” he played along, “Best 90 minutes of my life.”  
Jason and Frank didn’t look sold.  
“What about The Breakfast Club?” Jason smiled, “Titanic? Toby McGuire as Spiderman? _Andrew Garfield_ as Spiderman?”  
“Wreck-it Ralph,” Frank joined in, “The Count of Monte Cristo, The Princess Bride?”  
“We get it,” Hazel laughed, giving Frank a soft shove, “You 90’s kids remember a lot of movies.”  
“Movies in color.”  
“Right. So are you going to show us one of your fancy colored movies or am I going to have to dig up a copy of Scarface?”  
“Uh, the only movie I have for the monster-blocked DVD player is Princess Bride. I’m not sure if everyone’s going to like it…”  
“Are you kidding me? Everyone loves the Princess Bride. It’s a universal constant.”  
“Alright then, I’ll set it up.”  
“I can do the dishes.” Nico said quickly, getting to his feet.  
“But you’re a guest.”  
“It’s no trouble.” He replied, collecting all the empty plates.  
Frank looked to Hazel and she shrugged.  
“I’ll help.” Jason took the glasses and followed Nico to the sink. Hazel and Frank disappeared in search of The Princess Bride.  
“That went well.” He said, nudging Nico, “Is volunteering to do the dishes part of your whole create-a-happy-memory-for-Hazel mission?”  
“A little,” he sighed, “But mostly it felt rude not to offer. She did cook for us.”  
“You’re really well-mannered for someone who grew up on the streets.”  
“Yeah? Well so are you, for someone raised by wolves.”  
Jason laughed at that, cleaning out a cup and placing it in the dishwasher.  
“Hey, Jason?” Nico asked quietly.  
“Yeah?”  
“Are you… Seeing Piper again, did it make you feel better or worse?”  
“Better,” Jason smiled, “Definitely better.”  
“Oh,” he scrubbed at the burger pan, “Do you still love her?”  
“I never stopped loving her,” Jason admitted, “I just realized that it was more of a platonic love. Seeing her again made me feel like we could still be really great friends after everything, and I realized how easy it is for us to just… pick up where we left off.”  
“Are you going to move back to New Rome?”  
“I was thinking about it. Now that the Greeks and Romans are mixing, I feel like I could have a place here. I’d probably just end up being Reyna and Piper’s third wheel, though.”  
“…Do you think you’d be happy?” He asked solemnly.  
“Of course. As long as you’re coming with me.”  
Nico bit his lip and put a plate into the dishwasher.  
“What if I’m not? Do you think you’d still be happy?”  
“What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t you be?”  
“Nothing, forget it, it’s just a hypothetical.”  
“Nico,” he grabbed both his shoulders, “You’re my friend, one of the best I’ve ever had, okay? I’d be devastated without you.”  
“I…” Jason removed his hands and Nico looked back up at him, as if he was a crossword puzzle and the missing word was just on the tip of Nico’s tongue, “Okay.”

* * *

The Princess Bride turned out to be a good choice. Frank may or may not have cried at one point, and if he did nobody blamed him for it. It had Nico laughing, and Jason always considered that a plus.  
“How does Scarface hold up to that?” Jason asked Hazel when the credits rolled.  
She rolled her eyes.  
“You ask as if Frank doesn’t make me watch this movie eleven times a day. Call me a generationalist, but I’m going to stick with Scarface, thank you very much. What about you, Nico?”  
“I liked it,” he said with an air of hesitance, “I think it’s sweet that Westley never stopped loving her, even after all that time.”  
“I know,” Frank said, “And the whole ‘as you wish’ thing is just, it’s so touching.”  
Hazel pressed a kiss to his cheek and he wrapped his arms around her.  
They spent a couple hours just hanging out around the living room, talking about nothing until eight o’clock rolled around and if they didn’t get up soon, they were going to be late for dinner.  
“Come on,” Nico groaned, trying to pry Jason off the couch, “Piper and Reyna are waiting for us.”  
“Five more minutes, Mom.”  
“Funny,” he said, stepping back and crossing his arms against his chest, “I doubt you’ll still have your sense of humor after Reyna tears you a new one for being late. Need I remind you how she is about punctuality?”  
Jason was out the door in .03 seconds.  
Luckily they weren’t too late. Or at least, Reyna didn’t seem to mind their absence for the first twenty minutes of the hour, she was a little preoccupied being in Piper’s company.  
“We already ordered,” Piper happily supplied after finally detaching her lips from Reyna’s, “Hope you guys like generic gyros. Whoa, that sort of rhymed.”  
“Alliteration.” Reyna corrected, wiping some of Piper’s lip gloss off her face.  
“Riiight. Well I can’t say I alliterated, can I? I’m not even sure if that’s a word.”  
“It is.” Nico said, sitting down in the chair between Hazel and Jason.  
“Kid knows his stuff,” Piper said, taking a sip of her raspberry lemonade, “Jason’s got a good eye.”  
“Uh,” Jason stammered, “So how did you guys find this place?”  
“You’re kidding, right?” Piper raised an eyebrow in a way that made clear her distaste for Jason’s poor subject-changing abilities, “It’s like a block away from our apartment.”  
“I’ve actually never been,” Hazel cut in, albeit a little confused by the looks Piper and Jason were shooting each other, “Frank and I have been trying new restaurants every now and then, but there’s still a lot we haven’t seen.”  
The night went on similarly to lunch, Nico actually making attempts at socializing and Hazel and Jason doing their best to accommodate him, though he ended up talking with Reyna more than anyone else. When their food came, Nico would push any meat products onto Jason’s plate, and Jason would move any of his non-meat products to Nico’s plate because Jesus that boy needed to eat.  
The polite conversation had started to devolve until Piper proposed a game of Never Have I Ever, and all attempts at being respectable heroes of war were thrown out the window.  
“Never have I ever… done the cha cha slide.” Jason said on his turn.  
Frank and Piper put their fingers down, while Hazel asked what a cha cha was.  
“Never have I ever, uh,” Nico looked down at the three of his fingers still remaining, “Celebrated a birthday.”  
Everyone put their fingers down.  
“You’ve never celebrated your birthday?” Reyna asked.  
Nico shrugged.  
“Not that I can remember. I don’t even know when my birthday is.”  
“Dad must know,” Hazel said, “You could ask him.”  
“Tried,” Nico said dismissively, “I think it’s your turn.”  
“Okay, well, never have I ever needed glasses.”  
Piper put her finger down.  
“Contacts.” She grumbled bitterly.  
“Alright,” Frank said, “Never have I ever had to deal with an angry stepmother.”  
Jason and Nico put their fingers down, sharing a look of exasperation.  
“Never have I ever… visited every capital in every country of the world.”  
“Oh, come on, Piper, there’s no way —“  
Nico put his finger down.  
“You’ve got to be kidding me! How is that even possible?”  
“Shadow travel?” Nico explained, fiddling with his sleeve, “The United States gets boring after a while.”  
“Okay, that’s not fair. He only has one finger left. Reyna, you can’t let him win.”  
“Never have I ever,” Reyna began, “Kissed a boy.”  
Hazel, Piper, and Jason all put their fingers down.  
“Jason?” Nico practically shrieked.  
“What can I say, Dakota is a pretty good kisser. Now, never have I ever… delivered a statue to two warring camps as a symbol of peace.”  
Piper screeched and Reyna had to physically hold her down.  
“You gave that to him! That was cheap, that was so, so cheap, I can’t believe you, never have I ever games are sacred they should not be tarnished by emotions, there are no friends here, I swear —”  
Their waitress made a tiny noise and placed a little black book on the table.  
“Your, uh, your receipt m’am.” She supplied before scurrying off.  
“Shit,” Piper cursed, “We’re going to have to tip extra now.”

* * *

After they had all pitched in for the tip, and said all their goodbyes, Nico offered to shadow travel them back.  
“Are you sure? I mean, it won’t completely wear you out or anything, right?”  
“I’m a lot stronger than you give me credit for.” He said, crossing his arms.  
“No, I didn’t mean it like that, just… why don’t you let me fly us?”  
“Too slow,” he said, taking a hold of Jason’s hand, “I might need to sleep a lot after, but I should get us their punctually at least.”  
His teeth were set on edge, and something metallic, something rigid carried over into his voice. Maybe he had taken it harsher than Jason thought.  
“I’m not doubting your ability,” Jason clarified quickly, “You’re one of the most powerful demigods I know, it’s just… I’m worried.”  
Nico’s eyes softened.  
“I’ll be fine, I promise. Just tired mostly. Now come on.”  
Jason felt himself melting back into the shadows, the inky darkness passing through him harmlessly. On the other side, he fell backwards into his bed, Nico slumped against his chest, pinning him into place. He was snoring softly within moments, curling himself around Jason like a hook, his knees against Jason’s shoulder and his head resting on Jason’s torso. He was paralyzed for a moment, unable to move his eyes from the nearly-content expression on his face. In the end, he only moved to put a hand to his back.

* * *

Jason woke up to the sound of footsteps and metal rattling. When he opened his eyes, Nico was still curled up on top of him. He tried to gently push him off to see what had woke him up, but Nico was awake instantly, brandishing a knife from his belt loop.  
“What’s happening?” he asked, eyes glassy and wide, hair even more rumpled than usual, “What —”  
He wiped at his mouth and his eyes only got bigger.  
“Did I… Did I drool on you? Oh my gods, oh my gods, I’m sorry, I should’ve stayed awake longer, I —”  
“Hey, it’s fine. I just… I heard a noise, I’m going to go check it out.”  
He slipped out of bed and headed toward the front door. Nico made a move to follow him, but Jason waved him off.  
“You stay in bed, I’ve got this.”  
“Jason, it’s ten o’clock in the morning, I’m not going back to bed.”  
“Just hold on, okay?”  
“Fine,” Nico huffed, dropping back down onto the bed, “But if it’s trouble you’re going to need the most powerful demigod you know to come save you.”  
“I think I’ll manage.”  
When Jason checked around the cabin, two spray paint cans lay in the grass and. And in huge black letters, “go back to hell” was painted across the side wall.  
Jason went back inside to look for some cleaning supplies as Nico sat up and followed after him, asking a flurry of questions Jason didn’t have an answer to.  
“Stay inside.” He commanded, hefting two sponges and a bucket mixed with soap and water into his arms.  
Nico stared at Jason’s finds, something flitting across his eyes for a moment before he was looking back up at Jason defiantly.  
“Why should I? You do realize you’re acting strange, and it’s sort of my job to make sure you haven’t actually snapped, right?”  
“Just… trust me, would you?”  
Nico sighed.  
“Fine. I’m going to brush my teeth. But then we’re going to talk to Jenny about _you_ this time.”  
“Done.” Jason said.  
He got to work scrubbing at the paint, and at least got the word “hell” cleaned off before Nico came outside.  
He took one look at it, and grabbed a sponge to help out.  
“Sorry,” he said, “I didn’t want you to find out.”  
“What are you talking about? This has happened before?”  
“Almost every day,” he shrugged, “I normally clean it before you can see it, but… I was really out of it last night.”  
“And this doesn’t bother you? It doesn’t make you want to leave?”  
Nico gave him a funny look.  
“Do you want me to leave?”  
“No, no of course not.”  
“Well,” he sighed, “Then it doesn’t bother me that much. I just wish it wasn’t so much work to clean up, but, hey, at least it’s not permanent. At least I haven’t had a curse placed on me yet.”  
“Do they normally curse you?”  
“No,” he smiled humorlessly, soaking his sponge again, “I’m lucky like that.”  
“How are you so… okay with this?”  
“What, you thought I would break down after some teasing? I can take a lot more than that. It might…” he looked back up at the graffiti, _“Sting_ a little, but that’s just the way things are. And I doubt they’ll be like this forever.”  
Jason smiled. He sounded almost… hopeful. Like he could finally see a future beyond running errands for Hades the rest of his life.  
But there was still the matter of Nico being harassed by the other campers.  
“I’m still going to find whoever did this.”  
Nico held up a hand.  
“That’s okay. I’m leaving for my quest soon, after…” he gave a small smile, “I doubt they’ll be as hostile.”  
“…How are you not angry?” Jason demanded, “These people don’t even know you and they… they think this is funny!”  
Nico just shook his head.  
“I told you, I’m not allowed to be angry. I’m not allowed to hold grudges.”  
“But you want to be? You want to be angry?”  
Nico shrugged.  
“Not particularly. They didn’t really mean to hurt me, I don’t think. It’s not a personal vendetta, they don’t really _hate_ me, they’re just afraid. They’re afraid of me being here, and what it means for them. But I’ll be gone soon enough, the quest…”  
He paused.  
“I should probably talk to Chiron about that. I told him he could have his pick of the Aphrodite cabin.”  
“Alright,” Jason said, collecting the sponges, “I can walk you.”  
Nico looked like he was about to protest, but in the end he just shrugged.  
“If you want.”

* * *

“I have some good and bad news.” Chiron said when they were both seated inside the big house.  
“Alright,” Nico said, “Bad news first.”  
“The other gods have heard of your quest. Each one wants their children involved, but Zeus and Poseidon have made the most… _convincing_ appeals.”  
“No way,” Nico snapped, “No way, I promised Aphrodite —”  
“I’m sorry, but if you value your life it would be wise to just give into their caprices.”  
“No. No, not this time. They’ve already had their heroes.”  
“My hands are tied on this one, Nico. I’ve already contacted Percy, he’s on his way now. You at least get to pick which Grace sibling will accompany you.”  
“Chiron, I’m begging you, I can bring Jason but I need at least one child of Aphrodite.”  
“Have you ever seen a hurricane in person, Mr. di Angelo? It’s nothing compared to Poseidon when he’s angry. Trust me when I say you do not want to be the one to provoke his wrath.”  
Nico slumped in his chair, defeated.  
“What’s the good news?”  
“Rachel has already given your prophecy.”  
He picked up a piece of parchment from the coffee table and read,  
 _“Three sons of the world will travel by wind_  
 _To find the light in man’s original sin_  
 _Delve into the paradise of a silver-tongued liar_  
 _Who for his ancient grievances must face the fire_  
 _Find the truth that has been taken_  
 _Restore every memory that has been mistaken_  
 _With the help of light and love_  
 _A survivor of hell will rise above_  
 _But beware, the savior’s deceit and demand_  
 _Can only be stopped by the Roman’s hand.”_  
“That,” Jason said, “Doesn’t sound like good news to me.”

* * *

Nico sat by Thalia’s pine, twisting his skull ring until it left little, cylindrical welts on his finger.  
“I don’t think I can do this.” He breathed.  
Jason sat down in the grass next to him, looking him over carefully.  
“Is this because of Percy?”  
Nico laughed hollowly.  
“Not everything’s about Percy. Aphrodite asked me to make sure a child of hers accompanies me, and I really don’t want to get on her bad side. More than I already am. And, I don’t know, I thought that it would feel different, leading my own quest. I thought it would feel special, but I’m hardly even mentioned in the prophecy, and you know what? I can tell what’s going to happen. Percy’s going to steal the show, like he always does. And I get that it’s not supposed to be about me, I’d be fine with some unknown child of Aphrodite upstaging me, but Percy Jackson does not need any more pats on the back.”  
“But what about ‘survivor of hell,’ that’s you, isn’t it?”  
“Percy also survived hell. Did a better job of it, too. And last time I checked I’m not ‘the savior’ or ‘the Roman.’”  
Jason plucked at some of the grass and didn’t meet Nico’s eyes.  
“Are you upset that I’m going?”  
“Honestly,” he sighed, “A little. It’s sort of a relief, but at the same time between you and Percy, it’s just going to be the same Zeus and Poseidon show. Dad… he always talks about how amazing the recognition felt when Hazel was a part of a great prophecy, and I know it’s not a century-old quest to end a war, but it’s all the fates will give me and… I… Maybe I just want him to talk about me like that, if only once… if, if only for a little while. I want to leave him with a good memory of me.”  
“Like you did with Hazel? Why the sudden obsession with good memories?”  
“I realized that I haven’t left any,” Nico shrugged, “And you never really know when a loved one will be taken from you. The… The last time I saw Bianca before she died, I was mad at her for leaving me. I don’t want that to happen again.”  
“You’re scared Hazel’s going to be dragged back to the Underworld? It’s been months since Thanatos was freed and she’s still topside.”  
“There are a million other ways to die, Jason, trust me. You never know when someone’s last moment is going to be.”  
A sudden rush of air filled their ears, as four black hooves touched down beside them.  
“I’m here for the quest.” Percy said, smiling, as if it wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world.  
“Great.” Nico and Jason sighed, getting to their feet.  
“We should all go talk to Chiron about what traveling by wind means exactly.” Nico suggested.  
“What?”  
Jason and Nico exchanged a look.  
“Just come on.”

* * *

“Jason.”  
He paused, letting Nico and Percy continue walking.  
“Meet me at your cabin.” The voice said again.  
“Um, Jason, are you okay?” Nico hesitantly asked.  
“Yeah, I’m fine, just forgot about something I have to get before we leave. You two go on ahead.”  
Nico made a face like _don’t you dare leave me alone with him_ but Percy just waved obliviously and kept walking.  
Jason walked back to Cabin #1 and almost screamed when he opened the door only to come face-to-face with the Lord of the Dead.  
“Hades.” He said.  
“Jason,” the god said back, sitting down on one of the beds, “Have a seat.”  
“What is this about?” Jason asked, lowering himself down on the bed across from him.  
“This quest is dangerous," he said bluntly, "For my son in particular. Although it pains me to deign to ask a son of my brother for help, I see no other option. I need you to keep Nico safe.”  
“With all due respect, sir, I believe you are underestimating him. He’s more capable of looking after himself than you give him credit for.”  
“Oh, I know. Give him a Minotaur or two and he’ll make child’s play of it. But there are more things to be wary of than just monsters, for Nico especially this will be a more complicated, more challenging journey than just outsmarting or overpowering ancient simpletons. He needs protection, someone to keep an eye out. There is a hefty reward in it for you, too. My Roman half rules over wealth, as I’m sure you already know.”  
“Hmm,” Jason hummed, “Paying someone to keep your son safe? I never pegged you as the type to care one way or another.”  
“Do not claim to know me or my relationship with my children,” he snapped, “At least I bother to talk to mine. When was the last time you had a father-son chat with Zeus, huh? I don’t see him running around trying to make sure you’re okay.”  
“That doesn’t mean you qualify for father of the year,” Jason growled, “Jupiter might not even acknowledge my existence, but at least he doesn’t constantly criticize me and compare me to my dead siblings.”  
“If you had a dead sister with Bianca’s potential, I’m sure he would’ve done far worse. There’s no doubt in my mind he would have traded your soul for hers in a heartbeat.”  
“Well, then what’s your excuse for rubbing Hazel’s every victory in his face? For showing him how much you love your other children, when you don’t do the same for him?”  
“Excuse me for being proud of my daughter, what, am I just supposed to keep all of her successes to myself? It’s rare my children are even recognized as anything other than deceitful, I’m allowed to talk about it as much as I want when one is finally lauded as a hero. And I’m proud of Nico too, to a lesser extent, but if I showed him any affection it would prove disastrous to his development.”  
“I’m not sure I follow.” Jason said, crossing his arms.  
Hades sighed.  
“Nico is severely desperate for any modicum of favor, any bit of praise, any sign that someone might actually see worth in him. If I were to be that person, he would make himself content living in the Underworld, and never aspire for anything higher. If I didn’t constantly discourage him, he would never look elsewhere for acceptance.”  
“Nico tells me that you kept all of his sisters’ old stuff, but none of his.”  
“Do you see this ring?” Hades asked, showing off a white piece of string adorned with cheap, dollar store beads tied around his finger, “Nico made it when he was six. I haven’t taken it off since Maria gave it to me, almost seventy years ago. He doesn’t know that I have anything of his, and you must not tell him. Playing the cold and distant father is the only way I can help him at this point."

He stood.

"Good luck, Jason Grace, and for what it’s worth, you don’t remind me of my brother at all.”  
And with that he was gone, robe of tortured souls and all.

* * *

When Jason entered the big house again, Favonius was sitting on the coffee table, basket of unripe fruit tucked under his arm.  
“Jason Grace,” he beamed, “I was wondering when you would show up.”  
“The wind,” Jason said dumbly, “We’re traveling by wind.”  
He nodded.  
“It’s so nice to see you both again. I know a lot has changed since our last little meet up.”  
“What’s he talking about?” Percy asked.  
Jason sighed.  
“We met him when you and Annabeth were in Tartarus. Don’t worry about it.”  
“Well, I guess we better get going.” Favonius said, standing up and dusting himself off.  
“Yeah, I guess.” Jason said absentmindedly.  
He found himself distracted by Nico, taking in the rumpled, worn state of his attire and his eyes, still glossy and wide from sleep, wondering if this heartbreakingly beautiful boy was the same one he had seen rescued from the jar all those months ago. He wondered what divided the line between professional concern and the gut-wrenching worry he sometimes felt these days, how he had made the transition, and now that they were about to embark on another quest, side by side, he wondered why he had ignored it for so long.  
“What?” Nico asked when he caught him staring.  
 _I think I might be in love with you._  
“Are you ready?” he asked instead.  
“Yeah.”  
“Good,” he said, “So am I.”


End file.
